


Till Death Do Us Part

by cure_shade



Category: THE iDOLM@STER
Genre: AU i guess?, Bullying, Gen, Horror, Idols, Murder, Out of Character, Suicide, bitches being bitches, clownery, fun with cannabilism, take the content warnings seriously this isn't a fic for the weak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-06 17:25:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13416039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cure_shade/pseuds/cure_shade
Summary: A young girl enters a company to become an idol. What could possibly go wrong?Everything.





	1. Chapter I - Noriko

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to combine two of my favorite things - Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls and horror. Results may vary.
> 
> Disclaimer: The way the idols are portrayed in this fic is not reflective of how I feel about them! 
> 
> Moving on...
> 
> I dedicate this to Lily for always believing in me, and Steve for always gassing me up. Enjoy!

**_Chapter I - Noriko_ **

“Have you heard the news?”

The locker room at Cinderella Production was full of chatter. Girls of all ages were talking excitedly amongst each other. The older ones talked about what was going on with their lives, drinking and dating and things like that. The university students talked about their academic endeavors. And finally, the younger ones, the ones in middle and high school, were talking about company gossip.

And what was today's hot topic?

“I heard that she's very talented.” Ayame Hamaguchi relayed to her best friend, Tamami Wakiyama.

“Of course she is! We can always trust Producer-dono to make wise decisions for the good of the company.” Tamami said cheerfully.

“If he was really wise he'd disband Mellow Yellow.” Ayame quipped. 

“Maybe he will, now that the new girl is here.” Tamami nodded in agreement. 

“I still think you're lying.” Yuko Hori chimed in. “I heard the rumor from Sanae and did a psychic reading. Nothing came up.”

“Sanae is an ex-cop. Do you really think she'd lie to you?” Tamami asked. “I don't think Sanae is the type to play tricks on you.”

“Sanae is a trickster.” Yuko informed her.

“And besides, you think cops aren't above lying?” Ayame giggled. “How old are you again?”

“Tamami is a high school student!” Tamami shouted. She was so loud that everyone in the locker room got quiet.

“Um… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so loud.” Tamami apologized to whoever would listen. She wasn't expecting a response and intended to tell Ayame about the new historical novel and found in a thrift store. However…

“I'm sorry too.” a snappy voice said. Ayame, Tamami and Yuko all recognized this voice and they were now fearful. Standing in front of them was Yuka Nakano. Behind her stood Yukari Mizumoto, who was staring at the floor, holding two work out bags - one for Yukari, the other for Yuka.

“Ah… hello Yuka-dono.” Tamami greeted, trying to hide her nervousness. Everything about Yuka was intimidating. Once Mizuki Kawashima joked with Tamami that it seemed like Yuka had an iron fist over the younger idols. Unfortunately for anyone in the company who was younger than 18, that wasn't a joke.

“Shut up, flea.” Yuka snapped. “You're way too loud. Why don't you act like this on variety shows? Maybe if you did, you wouldn’t be such a flop.”

“Hey, that's not…” Ayame began.

“Be quiet. Your friend is short and has bad proportions. She can't sing either and sucks on variety. She should be lucky that she passed the audition here, let alone has any fans.”

Yuka’s words stung and Tamami ran out of the locker room, sobbing. Ayame would've stood up for her friend, but it wasn't worth going up against Yuka Nakano. Besides… comforting Tamami was more important.

Yuko watched the scene that played out in front of her, mystified. The wannabe psychic viewed Yuka with the same fascination all of the newer girls had - how could Yuka be such a bitch and get away with it?

“What are you looking at?” Yukari hissed. 

Yuko sighed, wondering what she could say. For a second, she had forgotten that Yukari was there… she wasn't strikingly beautiful, but instead was rather plain. Yukari wasn't like Minami Nitta, one of the older girls. Unlike Minami, Yukari didn't have the vocals to be noticed. She didn't have the charm that Uzuki Shimamura had either. In fact, Yukari didn't have much of a personality. A lot of the girls actually wondered what the producer saw in her. Why was she signed? 

Apparently, she could play the flute. Go figure.

“Hey Yukari.” Yuka said. 

“What is it?” Yukari asked, her eyes lighting up. Yuko found herself disgusted by this and ran off to go find Akane Hino or someone who she was on good terms with.

Back at Yuka's locker, Yukari could feel herself trembling as Yuka gave her a intense look up and down. All she wanted to do was have Yuka view her as her equal. Maybe they could be the kind of friends that told each other secrets and did fun things together. Maybe Yuka would teach Yukari how to be less like Yukari and more like Yuka.

But that was nothing more than a daydream.

“What did I tell you about speaking up?” Yuka asked in a low voice.

“Um… you said… don't speak unless spoken to.”

“I’m glad that you remembered.” Yuka smiled at Yukari. “Now be a good girl and hand me my bag.”

*****

One of the best parts of Chihiro Senkawa’s job was welcoming the new girls into Cinderella Productions, and then helping the producer with his creative endeavors. It was not only her duty as a secretary, but also as an employee at Cinderella Productions. Her life depended on the livelihood of the company, which is why she did her part to help the idols be the best they could be.

But even the best laid plans could go astray.

“Jet to the Future sold 50,000 copies this month.” Chihiro reported. One of her duties was to keep track of the company's releases on the Oricon Chart, and then report them to the producer.

“Excellent.” The producer nodded. Even though he didn't emote it well, Chihiro could tell that he really meant what he said. “And what about Nakano and Mizumoto's unit?”

“Mellow Yellow’s Snow White Secret failed to chart.” Chihiro reported, and the producer sighed loudly.

“I think Mellow Yellow needs to be reworked. They do better as a trio.”

“I agree. It hasn't been the same since Kyoko left the group.” Chihiro said. Of course, she knew the truth - that the reason why Kyoko left Mellow Yellow was not because she wanted to concentrate more on Pink Check School… but rather, as she confided to Chihiro, that she could no longer deal with Yuka. With tears streaming down her face, Kyoko explained that she made the fatal mistake of defending Yukari, and Yuka turned her aggression onto her. 

Chihiro got along with most of the idols or at the very least, thought of them positively. Yuka did not fit into either category. She had been in the company since she was 14, so four years ago. Four long years of terror. Ever since Yuka stepped into the company's doors, it hadn't been the same. Chihiro was hip to Yuka's game. She'd suck up to the older idols and the producer, but would treat Chihiro and the younger idols like shit. It was horrible.

“I think I should look into other paths for Mizumoto to take…” the producer sighed heavily. “You know how I feel about disbandments, but it's not feasible.”

“And what about Yuka?” Chihiro asked nervously.

“I think Mizumoto is holding her back. Remember, her solo CD did very well, despite Mellow Yellow…”

“Ah… but wasn't that a test?” 

“If it was a test… she passed with flying colors. I actually called Nakano into the office… she's supposed to be coming in after her acting lesson.”

“I guess you will break the news then?”

The producer nodded solemnly. Chihiro felt like her world had collapsed. Yuka was already bad enough… imagine how bad she'd get if she got a solo. Chihiro couldn't imagine.

“But before Yuka comes in… we need to greet the sole winner of our recent auditions. Her name is Noriko Shiina. I think she would do very well as an idol… her star shines brightly.”

“I believe in you.” Chihiro said, and there was a knock on the door. She immediately felt nervous. Could it have been…

“Come in.” the producer called out.

A young girl walked in, a slight spring in her step. Her loose wavy hair was tied up in a ponytail, adorned with a donut barrette. Her smile was the kind that made you smile when you looked at it. If you had to choose one word to describe this girl, adorable would hit it right on the head.

She would make a great idol.

The producer got up from his desk and stood between the new girl and Chihiro.

“Chihiro, this is Noriko Shiina, our new member. And Noriko, this is Chihiro, our secretary.”

“It's nice to meet you.” Chihiro greeted, smiling. She liked the vibe that Noriko gave off.

“You too!” Noriko exclaimed cheerfully. “Please treat me well…”

“Great. Now that that's settled… we can get you into your lessons. Because you said you like donuts, I am going to put you in an upcoming unit that has a sweets theme. I've been seeking a 5th member for a while, and you'd be a perfect fit.”

“Yay!” Noriko exclaimed. “I'll do my best!”

“What a good attitude. Chihiro, you can show Noriko to the lesson room.”

“Hold on.” Chihiro spoke up. She felt a little bold, because she was about to do something she had never done before. 

“Yes…?”

“You say that Noriko would be a good fit for Sweetches… but I think she'd also be a good fit for Mellow Yellow.”

“You think so?” the producer appeared to be thinking. 

“She matches their image.” Chihiro said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. She began to pray to herself that the producer would take her seriously and he'd honor her suggestion. Call her desperate, but Chihiro was willing to do anything if it meant that Yuka couldn't go solo. Even if that entailed stepping to her boss.

There was a second knock at the door, but before the producer could give the okay, the door opened.

Yuka Nakano.

As Noriko stared in awe of the older girl - who she saw on billboards and magazines - Yuka paid no mind to Noriko. She had seen Noriko, but figured that Noriko wouldn't be important to her.

“Good afternoon, producer!” Yuka greeted in a sunny tone. “One of the trainers said that you wanted to meet with me?”

Now Yuka wasn't dumb of course. She had a fair idea about what was about to happen. Soon she'd be free of Yukari’s presence and would be able to go solo. Soon she'd be free of the sinking ship known as Mellow Yellow. She couldn't wait!

“I am sure that you came in here with the expectation that you would be having a full fledged solo career…” the producer started. “As you know, Mellow Yellow is not doing so well. I considered disbanding the unit, but I decided to do something a little different… this here is Noriko. I think she is what the unit needs… some new life.”

“Uh-huh…” Yuka nodded. She had no idea what she could say right now… it felt like the producer just punched her in the stomach. She wanted Mellow Yellow to end!

“Hi Yuka. It'll be nice to work with you. I'm really glad.” Noriko said, smiling.

“I'm glad too.” Yuka said, then she smiled brightly. “Okay! We'll do our best. Come on, Noriko. I'll show you to the practice room.”

The two girls left, leaving the producer and his secretary alone.

“She took it way better than I expected her to.” the producer remarked.

That's what you think, Chihiro thought to herself. But she wasn't going to say that. Instead she just nodded and smiled. Yuka losing her solo career? Chihiro took that as a win.

Meanwhile, in the hallway outside of the practice rooms, Noriko couldn't contain her excitement. And when she couldn't contain her excitement, she talked a lot.

“It's so big and nice. I guess that's why Cinderella Productions is hard to get into. Everyone wants to join the best entertainment company. Hey Yuka, how long have you been signed?”

“Four years.” Yuka answered with no emotion in her voice.

Noriko paid no mind to this and started giggling. “I'm so glad to be a part of Mellow Yellow. The producer made it seem like I could save the unit, but that might be an exaggeration…” Noriko giggled again. “It's not like I'm an ace or something… I'm just your average girl who likes donuts. In fact, I…”

Noriko didn't get to finish her statement. There was a stinging sensation in her face, and Yuka stood there with her hand raised and expression angry. Yuka had hit her!

“Yuka, why did you…” Noriko began.

“Shut the hell up before I hit you again.” Yuka threatened. “Let's lay down some ground rules before you do something that gets you hurt.”

“G-ground rules?”

“I'm so glad you aren't deaf. As for the rules… first of all, like you said, you are nothing but an average girl who likes donuts. You will never be more than that so don't get bold unless you want me to slap you again.”

“You don't have to…”

“Don't interrupt me.” Yuka snapped. “Second rule… Mellow Yellow? My unit. Don't try to claim it as yours. I'm the center and main vocalist. Stay in the back where you belong. Yukari is getting lonely back there.”

Noriko swallowed nervously. Just what the hell had she gotten herself into?

“Final rule. Even outside of unit activities... Do not speak to me unless spoken to. Don't try to cross me either. Do the former, and you'll feel my hand across your face. Do the latter, and you'll wish you were dead. Got it?”

“I understand…” Noriko nodded, trying her best not to be too excited.

“Great!” Yuka exclaimed, a sugary sweet smile on her face. “Now I can introduce you to the rest of the girls we share the practice room with.”

Noriko nodded slowly, hoping that the rest of the girls were nowhere near as horrible as Yuka was.

Was that even possible?

*****

The way that Cinderella Productions handled practice rooms was that Chihiro would assign every unit a room. As there were at least 150 idols signed to the company, things tended to get a little crowded. For that reason, up to two units could share a room.

And as Noriko found out, both of her units were based in Practice Room #6. Noriko was glad. The convenience alone made her anxiety go down a bit… now she no longer had to worry about running back and forth between two rooms. She made sure to pay extra attention to the way to the room. The last thing that Noriko wanted was to ask Yuka for directions and inconvenience her even more.

All Noriko wanted was to get along with her new label mates. What could possibly go wrong?

Yuka opened the door to Practice Room #6 and Noriko followed, expecting for Yuka to at least hold the door open for her. But Yuka couldn't even be bothered to do that. Noriko jumped as the door slammed shut into her face.

“What was the meeting about?” a foreign voice asked from the other side.

“Shut the hell up, Yukari.” Yuka's voice was so acidic that it could've melted the door. Nonetheless, Noriko found herself entering the room. 

Besides Yuka, two girls were staring back at her. 

“Who's this?” the bustiest girl asked. Her brown hair was tied in two pigtails.

“I think that this is the new girl.” her plump friend added. “Chieri told me that there was a new addition.”

“Are you going to introduce us to your new friend?” the busty pigtailed girl asked, smiling. “Come on Yuka! Tell us about your friend!”

Yuka, who was glowering from the corner of the room, just scoffed derisively. “God gave you a mouth, Noriko. Use it.”

The two girls stared back at Noriko, who felt nervous. Sure they were smiling at her, but how did they really feel? 

Noriko decided not to think about it.

“I'm Noriko! Thirteen years old, and from Osaka! My favorite food is donuts. The reason why I decided to become an idol is because I want to make people happy like donuts make me happy!” Noriko introduced herself, repeating her self introduction from her audition.

Before the other two girls could say anything, someone clapped. Noriko whirled around, expecting it to be Yuka, but Yuka was pointing to the other corner. A plain looking brunette was standing there was clapping. At her feet sat a stringy haired blonde girl. Her eyes and face gave off the vibe that she was over life. Noriko found this fascinating, especially since the girl seemed to be her age.

“How long have you two been here?” Noriko asked. “I didn't see you guys.”

“Don't worry! Yukari and Nono tend to give off that kind of vibe…” the plump girl said. “Oh right. I should introduce myself. I'm Kanako Mimura. And this here is Airi Totoki.”

“Nice to meet ya!” Airi exclaimed. “You said you like donuts? Have you ever attempted making them?”

“No. But I'm sure it would be fun to try!” Noriko answered.

“That's a good answer. You should join Airi and I in the kitchen. We love whipping up sweets!” Kanako told her.

“That's great. I'm excited!” Noriko then turned around to face Yukari and Nono. “I'm also excited to be working with you… Uh… what were your names again?”

“I’m Yukari.”

“Y-you can c-call me… Nono…”

“I'm so sorry for forgetting! I'll do my best to remember your names from now on…”

An awkward silence weighed down on the practice room, and Noriko suddenly felt uncomfortable. Airi and Kanako kept smiling at her, Nono was staring sadly at the floor, Yukari had walked over to Yuka and Noriko wasn't even going to look at Yuka's expression.

And then the door to the practice room opened violently.

“Howdy y'all! I'm sorry for being late… I missed the last train from Iwate last night so I had to leave today. It got so busy on the farm that I had to help out.”

Noriko took in the girl who had just walked in. She had short black hair, a welcoming face expression and spoke with a country accent. However, this girl had something that Noriko had never seen before… a chest that was so big that she couldn't help but stare.

None of the other girls in the room regarded the late arrival. Airi and Kanako quickly walked over to the radio. Yukari began to whisper something to Yuka. Nono withdrew into her corner even more.

“And who is this?” the girl asked, referring to Noriko.

No answer from anyone in the room. Noriko didn't mind though.

“I'm Noriko Shiina. I'm new…”

“Welcome! My name is Shizuku Oikawa. Are you a part of Sweetches? That's a unit made up of me, Nono, Airi and Kanako. We haven't debuted yet.”

“Yes. I can't wait to debut with you.” 

“S-she’s also in M-mellow Y-yellow.” Nono spoke up.

“Oh are you! That's so rare to be placed into two units right after you get signed. The producer must've saw something special in you. You know, Mellow Yellow was supposed to dissolve and Yuka was supposed to… ah!”

Shizuku covered up her right eye, as if she was in pain.

“What happened?” Noriko asked. “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine, but… my eye. I'm going to need ice.”

“I'll come with you.”

“Thank you, Noriko. I really appreciate it.”

As Shizuku and Noriko made their way out of the practice room, Noriko noticed a hair tie on the floor that was where Shizuku was standing. She looked around the room and saw that Yuka had taken one of her pigtails out and shot her hair tie into Shizuku’s eye.

Noriko couldn't let Yuka get away with this.

“What's wrong with you?” Noriko demanded. “Have you lost it? You could've seriously injured Shizuku.”

“That was the point, dumb bitch.” Yuka snapped. “Now can it before I shoot my other one at you.”

“I don't care. If you hurt me or hurt Shizuku again I'm going to tell the producer!”

“Noriko, you don't have to do this.” Shizuku said in a hushed tone of voice. “Now let's get out of here. My eye is really starting to bother me.”

As much as Noriko wanted to stay behind and confront Yuka, she decided to put Shizuku's comfort first. The two went out into the hallway, where they could hear Kanako and Airi making fun of Shizuku's country accent.

The two stayed silent until they reached an area with vending machines. Noriko got the older girl a bottle of water and Shizuku held it up against her wounded eye.

“Thank you, Noriko. You know…. You didn't have to do that.” 

“You mean stand up for you? I had to. No one else in that room seemed to care.”

“You're absolutely right. I came into this company and thought I'd be friends with my unit mates. But…” Shizuku sighed deeply. “Well you know what they say. Better luck next time, right?”

“What about now? You're being outcasted by the girls in our practice room. I don't care. I don't care if I upset Yuka or anyone else by talking to you. I'll still try my best to get to know you better.”

“You want to get to know me better?” Shizuku asked, incredulous. 

“Yes.” Noriko nodded. “I would like to make friends too. So you said that you had a farm?”

Shizuku giggled a bit. “Yes. It's my family's pride and joy. I should tell you about the cows that we have. We name them and treat them like family. We find that treating the cows humanely produces the best milk.”

“That’s so cool… I had no idea! Tell me more about them… please?”

Shizuku nodded and began to go in-depth about the cows on her family's farm. While there were some things that Noriko didn't understand, she didn't mind. It was nice having her first conversation of the day that left her feeling good. Who knew? Maybe Shizuku would become Noriko’s best friend within the company. Maybe their units would do well and they'd be able to have their own cow and donut themed unit!

But even the best laid plans go astray.


	2. Chapter II - Hot Issue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout-out to the Gacha Gang and the GOONIANS
> 
> thanks for your comments everyone! It really means a lot to me!! <3
> 
> As for this chapter? Jesus Christ...

**_Chapter II - Hot Issue_ **

For the first two or so months after Noriko entered the company, everything was normal. Normal in the sense that the status quo wasn't threatened. While Shizuku gladly helped Noriko learn the choreography for their unit debut song, Mellow Yellow was a different story.

At first Yuka attempted to teach Noriko, but she did it begrudgingly. No effort was put on her end and both girls grew frustrated at each other. Yuka, because she was mad at how “dumb and slow” Noriko was, and Noriko was upset over Yuka's inability to be patient. Luckily, there was Yukari.

Yukari would secretly teach Noriko the choreography after Yuka went home. Yukari would also stress that Noriko was not to tell anyone else about these secret lessons. Yukari especially didn't want Noriko to tell Yuka. Shit, did Noriko want to tell Yuka anything?

Of course not!

Besides being on “thin fucking ice” with Yuka, Noriko was content. She was slowly but surely building relationships with the girls from Practice Room #6. For the most part, everyone was friends at best or work colleagues at worst. There was no drama. No negativity. But that was about to change.

It was a below freezing day of January when it happened. Mellow Yellow was due to release their first single with Noriko at the end of the month. Before filming the music video, the choreography had to be checked. So for that reason, the practice room had been cleared out. Mellow Yellow stood before an intimidating woman who served as a trainer. No one knew her name, but she was known as the veteran trainer. There were other trainers too - all of them resembled each other - but by far, the veteran trainer was the most intimidating.

“Nakano. Shiina. Mizumoto. Show me what you got.”

The trainer turned the radio on and a sugary sweet instrumental came on. The song was titled Kawaii Make My Day, so it was fitting. Each of the members practiced their moves and expressions to the point that they thought they would nail it and pass the veteran trainer's harsh judgement.

When the music ended, the trainer sighed. She had overseen a lot of idols; it was the job as a trainer to make the choreography look as good as possible. By any means necessary.

“Shiina. Nakano. Switch places.”

As soon as the trainer's words registered with Noriko, her stomach dropped. Two and a half months had passed, and no matter how much Noriko tried, she could not forget Yuka's second “rule”.

_“Mellow Yellow? My unit. Don't try to claim it as yours. I'm the center and main vocalist.”_

And Yuka wasn't kidding about that. She was the center, which became even more noticeable after Mellow Yellow became a threesome. Yuka seemed to really like being in the center, so Noriko decided not to question her on this. And besides… Noriko didn't feel comfortable being the center so quickly. She wanted to work her way up.

“Shiina. Nakano. What are you waiting for? I said switch places.”

Yuka turned around and looked at Noriko, her face expression unreadable. Her mouth was clenched tightly and her glare was intense.

Noriko decided that all she could do was listen to the trainer. She moved up to the front and stood next to Yuka.

“Nakano? What are you doing?”

“Trainer… I'm staying where I belong.”

“I decide who goes where.” The trainer was firm, and Noriko was pleased to see that she was one of the few people in the company not to be afraid of Yuka. It was refreshing.

“Well decide that I belong up front, and that Noriko stays in the back.”

“You heard what I said. Get in the back.”

“Why?!” Yuka shouted. There was some desperation in her voice that Noriko had never heard before. “This is _my_ unit!”

“You want to know why?” the trainer challenged. “I'll put this in simple terms. The title of this song is called Kawaii Make My Day. _You_ don't fit the concept.”

“But Noriko does?!”

“Yes. Unlike you, Noriko fits the concept of “kawaii”. I'm watching her dance and decided that she would be perfect for the center. Does that explanation satisfy you?”

Yuka answered with a defeated silence.

“I'm glad we're all in agreement here. Nakano, stop wasting my time and get to the back.”

Once Yuka got to where Noriko was formally standing, the trainer started the music again. Noriko danced her heart out, just as she did when she was in the back. She made sure to be herself and not anything she wasn't.

When the song ended, the trainer clapped. “Perfect, perfect. I'll tell the producer that you guys are ready to shoot the music video and take jacket shots. Oh, and Noriko?”

“Yes?”

“Congratulations on making the center position.”

The trainer left, probably thinking that Yuka and Yukari would congratulate Noriko as well. Unfortunately…

“Don't even look at me right now!” Yuka screamed out in fury, stomping out of the dressing room. With her gone, Yukari reached out and gently touched Noriko's hand.

“I'm happy for you. I've never been the center before, but… it must be an exciting experience.”

“I am very excited. But um… about Yuka…”

“What about her?”

“Will she be alright?”

Yukari just sighed. “Yuka wouldn't want you to care. And I don't get why you care either.”

The day after that, Shizuku had brought in a half of dozen glazed donuts as a way to celebrate Noriko making the center. After practice, the donuts were mysteriously soaked with water and were effectively ruined. Shizuku was heartbroken, but Noriko knew better.

*****

Days soon turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. In that time Mellow Yellow took their jacket photos and filmed their music video. Even though the unit's atmosphere was very off, they managed to get through those activities without issue.

The release of the music video was when everything changed.

Noriko's brightness in the music video had made her a bit of a hot issue with the public. People were creating gifs of her parts in the mv. Someone opened a fan cafe just for her and 50,000 people joined over the course of a week. Girls began to buy copies of Noriko's signature donut hair barrette. Noriko's status of a hot issue also helped with the sales.

“Kawaii Make My Day charted third place on the Oricon Weekly Charts. About 95,000 copies were sold.” Chihiro reported to the producer, who nearly jumped out of his chair in surprise.

“As expected!” he exclaimed. “Chihiro,you were right… Noriko did save Mellow Yellow.”

“Thank you for listening to me, Producer.” Chihiro told him, bowing graciously.

“No… thank _you_ for suggesting that. We have to take advantage of Noriko's status as a hot issue. Can you book her for some solo television appearances?”

Chihiro couldn't help but to smile. “I'll see what I can do.”

A few hours later, it was business as usual in Practice Room #6. The two Mellow Yellow members sat on the floor as Sweetches practiced, not even paying attention to them. Not that the Sweetches members minded, they were too busy practicing their choreography for their slated debut single - Sweet Witches' Night ～Rokuninme wa Daare～. Airi, looking to capitalize on Noriko's hot issue status, tried to get her in the center. Luckily for Noriko, she was able to talk Airi into letting Nono be the center.

“I think that it would make her smile.” Noriko had said.

“That's very nice of you!” Airi exclaimed, then she found Nono and told her the news. Unlike what Noriko predicted, Nono was not happy. But Noriko didn't think much of it. Maybe Nono was just nervous?

“I think that's enough for today.” Airi said, smiling. “We did well, team.”

“We did well, team.” Yuka said from the floor. “Do you ever listen to yourself and realize how stupid you sound?”

Airi ignored her. “I think we should do something fun as a team. What should we do today? Any suggestions?”

There was silence. Noriko decided to share her suggestion.

“We should go out for donuts.”

“Hm… that's great!” Airi agreed.

“No it isn't.” Kanako protested. “I'm trying to lose some weight for our debut… we literally just went out for donuts the other day. I don't think it's wise…”

“Why not?” Noriko asked.

“What do you mean, why not? You seem to always be snacking on donuts. How can you eat them so fearlessly? Aren't you afraid of gaining weight?” Kanako’s tone gave off the feeling that she was on edge - it was different from how she usually was. At times, she’d snap at people. According to Chieri. Kanako's closest friend at the agency, she normally wasn't like this.

Noriko, oblivious in the way that a thirteen year old was, decided to tell the truth. She was going to be completely honest…

“I've never had that problem, Kanako. It doesn't matter how many donuts I eat… I'm still skinny. Isn't that interesting?”

“Oh it's interesting alright…”

“But I get what you're saying. My mom would always tell me not to eat so many donuts because it'd make me fat, but… I guess I'm lucky.”

“Lucky. Yes. You're very lucky.” Kanako said bitterly, then she turned to Airi. “I'll be heading back to the dorm. See you guys later.”

“Bye bye!” Airi waved as Kanako made her way out of the practice room.

“Noriko, can I talk to you about something?” Shizuku whispered into Noriko's ear.

“Um… yeah… sure.”

“Let's go outside then.”

Shizuku lead the younger girl out into the hallway, which was lit up with the colors of the setting sun. A group of powerful voices could be heard, filtering out under the door of Practice Room #4. It was rumored that they would be releasing a song called Nocturne, with a unit that not only consisted of powerful vocalists but older girls. Noriko hoped she could join such a unit in a few years.

As for the present…

“Noriko, I really should've told you this before, but you need to be careful when it comes to mentioning food or weight to Kanako.”

“What? Why?”

“Because she struggles with it. It's rumored that her metabolism is slow so she gains weight easily. The producer took her in despite that, because he doesn't care about those kinds of things.”

“That's so nice of him. It sounds like he's letting Kanako be herself. That's a good thing, right?”

“Yes. However, not everyone here has the same mindset as the producer. Before you joined the company, one of the trainers used to harass Kanako. She would tell her that unless Kanako lost some weight, she would be removed from the lineup.”

“Oh no! That's horrible…”

“It is. Even though trainers have no authority when it comes to kicking people out of groups - it's all up to the producer - Kanako was so rattled by the trainer's words she started dieting.”

“Ah… I see. I should apologize to her for being so insensitive. I should've thought about how she would feel…”

“You should! Kanako is nice and forgiving, so I don't think there will be any problems.”

“Great!”

“Noriko? Shizuku? What are you two doing out here? Are you taking a break from your lessons?”

Chihiro had walked up to them, smiling in her usual friendly way. But both Noriko and Shizuku could tell that Chihiro had come down to the practice room on business.

“I guess you could say that.” Shizuku answered. “What brings you down here?”

“I actually came down here to talk with Noriko, but you can stay here too. It's nothing serious, but rather… something exciting.”

“Oh?” Noriko's interest was piqued. Even though she had gotten a lot more solo activities since becoming a trend, she was never bored with them.

“Yes. You see, there's a new cooking variety show slated to start later this week. The producer and I think you'd be a good fit for it… it deals with desserts.”

“Even donuts?” Noriko couldn't help but ask.

“I'm sure they're considered as a dessert…” Chihiro said. “Regardless… are you willing to do this?”

“Yes! I'm excited!”

“So am I!” Shizuku agreed. “I'm happy for you. You should totally try to promote my family's farm too!”

Noriko giggled. “I'll see what I can do.”

“I'm glad you've signed on to this. Now I have to break the news to Airi.”

“Airi…?” Shizuku repeated. “Why would you need to tell her?”

“Because she was supposed to be the co-host.” Chihiro informed them. “However… the producer feels like you'd be a better fit.”

“Couldn't we host it together?” Noriko asked. “Is that possible?”

“Unfortunately… no. There's another idol from a different agency who is the other host.”

“Can I tell her…?”

“Airi? It'd be for the best if you didn't. She tends to get emotional and… well, I'd rather deal with it…”

Chihiro opened the door and left Noriko and Shizuku out in the hallway. A few seconds later, Airi ran out into the hallway, crying. She ran right past Shizuku and Noriko, and Chihiro ran after her.

“Airi, wait!”

Shizuku and Noriko stood in silence, until Noriko suddenly spoke up. “Will Airi be alright?”

“I hope so. I've never seen her like this before.” Shizuku sighed. “I'm sure her feelings are hurt, but she can at least look forward to getting other jobs. She's a cute girl with a nice personality.”

“I agree! Airi deserves it more than anyone else…”

After the lessons ended and it was time to go home, Noriko ran into a nasty surprise as she stepped out of the street. Yukari was standing there, waiting for her.

“Hey Noriko. Do you want to get donuts today?”

Noriko smiled and nodded. “I think we should get hot chocolate too. It's really cold today, isn't it?”

“Yes. Yukari nodded. “The news said that it were going through a cold spell and it's going to be below freezing for the rest of the week. Do you know of a good cafe that's nearby?”

“I need to think.” Noriko said.

“Take your time. It's not like I can’t feel my feet.”

“Hm… but is it okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“You and Yuka are close friends, right?” Noriko sighed. “She doesn't let you talk to me during practice, so are you allowed to talk to me now?”

“Yes… Yuka went home. That's great, right? We can get together and hang out as friends.”

“As friends… yes! I'd like to be good friends with you. I think you're very beautiful and I heard that you could play the flute. I want to hear about that. You must be really talented…”

“You think so?” Yukari asked, her eyes as wide as saucers. “You care?”

“Yes. Why are you so surprised…?”

“I'm just always so invisible. Not many people pay attention to Mellow Yellow’s backgrounder. It's not like I'm on center stage.”

“But that's only on center stage. I think that off stage… everyone is important. Including you.”

“Aww, Noriko… thank you. I really mean it.”

Noriko smiled. “As for where we could go…”

“Gotcha, bitch!”

Noriko turned around, only to get hit by a torrent of ice cold water. Because it was well below zero and windy, it actually hurt on her skin. She could feel her wet skin beginning to freeze. She couldn't move. Where was Shizuku? Where was she? Was there anyone who could help her?

As Noriko stood there in shock, Airi and Yuka high fived, laughing like they just pulled off the most comedic endeavor of the century. While Yuka was empty handed, Airi was holding a metal bucket.

“You guys…” Yukari spoke up. “What the hell is wrong with you?! Noriko is…”

“Shut the hell up, Yukari. You agreed to be a part of this plan, remember?” Yuka snapped.

“Yeah. If you were so concerned about being Noriko's friend you wouldn't have signed on to this… right?” Airi added.

“I…” Yukari began.

“Tell me honestly…” Yuka began. “Do you like Noriko?” Even though Yukari was a little bit taller than Yuka, she suddenly felt very small.

Maybe if Yukari was a little bit braver, she could tell the truth - the truth being that she indeed liked Noriko and wanted to be her friend. But she was scared. She was weak. She was a coward.

“No. I do not like Noriko. In fact, I hate her.”

“Good girl.” Yuka smiled as she pet Yukari on the head.

“Huh… So the wallflower is good at something. Color me shocked.” Airi remarked as Noriko's shock overcame her. The younger girl fell onto the ground, shivering. While Noriko couldn't move, she could still hear everything the others were saying. She felt betrayed and tears began to fall from her eyes.

“Someone help me…” Noriko finally managed to say.

“Shut up!” Airi shouted, kicking Noriko in the stomach.

“Hey!! What's going on over there?”

Yuka, Yukari and Airi all stopped what they were doing and looked around to see that Kaede Takagaki was making her way over.

To put it in simple terms, Kaede was the queen of Cinderella Productions. Her voice and affinity for puns had impressed millions, to the point that her debut single, Koi Kaze, charted for 42 weeks and was the highest selling single of all time from Cinderella Productions.

Personality wise, Kaede carried herself with elegance and grace (when she wasn't cracking puns, that is) but once she saw Airi kicking Noriko, shit got real. She began to walk over to them, demanding to know what was going on.

“Shit!” Airi shouted, throwing the bucket to the ground. The three ran away, but Kaede wasn't going to sweat it. She could always report them to the producer tomorrow. But for right now, Kaede helped Noriko up, shocked by how cold Noriko had gotten. The poor girl felt like she was made of ice.

Once they were back in the building, Kaede sat Noriko down on a bench, and called Mizuki, telling her to bring some hot tea down to the lobby. Mizuki, not wasting any time for her friend, came downstairs as soon as she could. She was very shocked to see Noriko in her current state. The girl could barely hold the mug, her hands were shaking so much!

“What happened here?” Mizuki asked. Normally she'd do her best to be a friend to the younger idols but seeing Noriko had put her into serious business mode.

“I just stepped outside and she was on the ground. Airi was kicking her and Yuka and Yukari were watching and laughing.”

“And where are they now?”

“Gone. They ran off as soon as they saw me. But they're fools if they think they're getting away with this.”

“Jesus. Noriko, are you still there?”

Noriko didn't answer, and continued to stare into space.

“So you said Airi was kicking her?” Mizuki asked. “I'm so disappointed in her. She seemed like such a nice girl when we were working on that variety show together.”

“I guess you don't truly know a person until they think no one is watching.” Kaede sighed.

“You're right about that…”

“Why…” Noriko suddenly spoke up, gripping the mug of tea in her hands. She was squeezing it so tight her knuckles were starting to turn white.

“Why…?” Kaede and Mizuki repeated.

“Why can't we all get along?!” Noriko sobbed uncontrollably. “I did nothing wrong! They all hate me for no reason… I don't want to be an idol anymore! I want to quit!”

“No.” Kaede said as Mizuki handed the crying girl a handkerchief. “You can't.”

“But I want-”

“Noriko. Listen to me. You can't quit. If you quit you'll never forgive yourself. We've all seen you shine in the Kawaii Make My Day video. Not just us at the company, but the public does too.”

“Noriko, why did you audition for this company?” Mizuki asked.

“Because I wanted to be an idol.”

“Exactly. And you're doing a good job. We know you're hurt, but… you can't let those girls steal your dream so easily. If you do that… they've succeeded.”

“You're… you're right.” Noriko nodded. _I can't let Yuka win. She wants me gone_ , she thought.

“When I was first starting out, I too had been bullied by people who were jealous.” Kaede admitted.

“She was in the modeling industry, which is slightly more cutthroat.” Mizuki informed Noriko.

“Same principle.” Kaede shrugged. “Even though it was hard at times, I never gave up. And look at me now.”

“Kaede is right.” Mizuki agreed. “It's your decision what you want to do, though. Put yourself first.”

“I think I'll continue. But I'm alone and it's hard… I just want to at least want my unit mates to stop hating me.”

“You're friends with Shizuku, right?” Kaede asked. “I think you should focus on her…”

“She's my only friend here.”

“Not anymore!” Mizuki laughed. “We'll do our best to look out for you. Feel free to talk to us about anything, okay?”

Kaede nodded. “Mizuki will jump at the chance to be a cool older sister. It's best to entertain her.”

“Hey! I'm forever young!”

Noriko couldn't help but to laugh at this. Sure she was stressed out about tomorrow, but for now, she needed the laugh.

*****

While Noriko was stressed about the fall out from the day before, it seemed that nothing was out of the ordinary. Noriko did come down with some kind of cold though, so she kept sneezing and coughing and blowing her nose… much to the annoyance of the other girls.

“Here's a box of tissues.” Shizuku said to Noriko, presenting the box.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.” Noriko said graciously.

“Hey. Can you two stop fucking around and get over here? We have work to do.” Airi reminded them.

“I think Noriko should go home. She's clearly very sick.” Shizuku suggested. “Not only should she rest but what she has might be contagious.”

“Is being an annoying bitch contagious?”

“Be nice.” Kanako told Airi.

“Didn't you call Noriko a failed abortion on our phone call last night?”

“Ha!! That's brilliant! I'm surprised I didn't think of that myself.” Yuka laughed.

Kanako sighed defeatedly. “But did I lie?”

“N-noriko. G-g-get over here so we can p-practice.” Nono said.

“Okay.”

Yukari turned the music on and the girls danced to the whimsical instrumental of their would be debut song. After they finished, Yuka cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled out,

“Boo!! Get off the stage!”

Yuka's reaction wasn't far-fetched. Nono, shy and unconfident, made a poor center. The stress would cause her to forget dance moves, and as such, messed up the entire choreography. Airi and Kanako were stewing over this. Shizuku and Noriko had started to encourage Nono, but that stopped when Airi charged over and grabbed Noriko by her elbow.

“You're really full of shit, aren't you? It was one thing for you to steal my job, but you purposely set Nono up as the center so that you could mess us all up and you could go solo. You become a trending topic for five minutes and your head gets big!”

“What? What are you talking about?” Noriko demanded. “I picked Nono because…”

“Because you know she sucks at being in the center and wanted to screw us over.” Kanako finished.

“That's not true!” Noriko insisted. “I…”

“You wanted everyone to laugh at me like I'm some kind of joke!” Nono yelled, and everyone in the room silenced. This was the loudest they ever heard Nono get.

“Nono… Noriko didn't mean to hurt you.” Shizuku spoke up. “She was trying to help…”

“I know everyone hates me and I'm a bad idol! I don't need this _fad_ to tell me that! I'm a fool for every trusting her!”

Nono ran out the practice room and there was silence for what felt like hours. It was deafening… until Airi turned back to Noriko.

“Fuck you. I'm the center from now on. How dare you hurt Nono like that? She only wanted to be friends.”

There was a knock on the door before Noriko could say something in response.

“Come in!” Shizuku sang out. She, like everyone else, had assumed that it was Nono returning. However, they were wrong.

Standing there, looking as serious as a heart attack, was the producer himself.


	3. Chapter III - The Devil Wears Pigtails

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here go hell come

**_Chapter III - The Devil Wears Pigtails_ **

“What the hell?! You have to be kidding me!”

Yuka's voice rang out like a fire alarm in a drill. Except this wasn't a fire drill. Yukari was sitting on the floor, chewing on her hair and crying to herself. Airi had fallen back with Kanako, and Shizuku was holding Noriko’s hand in a way to say that she supported her. It was a nice gesture, but Noriko couldn't vocalize that just yet. Not when Yuka was standing in front of the producer, yelling at him.

“Do I look like I'm kidding?” The producer asked, and in a moment of desperation, Yuka grabbed the producer’s shoulders and started shaking him.

“You're kidding! You're kidding me!”

“No… I'm not.” The producer, thoroughly annoyed, pushed Yuka off of him. “What you and Airi did to Noriko was despicable. Not only did you cause physical harm to your teammate, but you did it in a public place where anyone could see.”

He continued. “Such qualities are not welcomed in an idol. You're supposed to be someone to look up to. So no, I wasn't kidding. Airi will be on probation for the next ninety days. As for you two…” The producer gestured to both Yuka and Yukari. “Mellow Yellow is officially disbanded.”

“But what will we do?” Yukari asked, sobbing. Tears fell in a waterfall down her face. “I can't go back to Aoyama! After all I've been through, I can't…”

“I don't think you're cut out to be an idol. I'll see if you can shine elsewhere.”

“What about Noriko?” Shizuku asked, which Noriko was grateful for. She had wondered about her fate, but was not comfortable asking about it given the atmosphere of the room.

“What about her? No one cares about her, you honky tonk bitch!” Yuka yelled and Shizuku recoiled.

“Worry about yourself. Yuka. As much as I want to kick you to the curb and terminate your contract, I don't think it's wise to let you go. You have the charisma for the stage but… your attitude isn't right for group activities.” The producer told her.

“So am I going solo?” Yuka asked. She sounded hopeful.

“Yes. You're going solo… working in the office, doing clerical activities until you get your act together.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Either you agree or your contract gets terminated. Yuka, you've caused problems for everyone here… from Chihiro, to the trainers, to the other staff, and to other idols. You should be lucky you're getting off with a slap on the wrist.”

Yuka laughed derisively. “I should be lucky to work in an office, waiting on people? I hate this company!”

Yuka screamed in fury and stomped out of the room. Kanako and Airi followed, leaving Noriko, Shizuku, Yukari and the producer.

“So if Mellow Yellow is disbanded… what will I do? I'm still in Sweetches, right?” Noriko asked nervously.

“Right.” The producer nodded. “However… to make up for your Mellow Yellow activities… we've decided to let you go solo.”

“Oh my God! Really?” Noriko exclaimed. “Me? Solo? Seriously?”

“Yes. Take off and rest at home until you're feeling better. When you come back, we will discuss the specifics then. As for you, Shizuku and Yukari, have a nice night.”

“You too.” Shizuku and Yukari said in unison.

With the producer gone, Yukari spoke up.

“I'll be going first.” she said.

“Where are you going?” Shizuku asked.

“I need to find Yuka… I need to find Yuka and see if she's okay.”

“Yukari…” Noriko called out.

“What is it, Noriko?”

“Remember what you said to me a few weeks ago?”

“No. I don't recall. What did I tell you?”

“Yuka wouldn't want you to care. And I don't get why you care either.” Noriko recited, which blindsided Yukari for a bit. She was speechless.

“Unlike you… Yuka is my friend. So don't worry and pay attention to yourself.”

*****

With Airi on probation, and Yuka being relegated to the office, the atmosphere in Practice Room #6 was relatively normal. Yukari would've been there, but the producer decided to move Yukari to modeling, so Noriko didn't really see much of her anymore. That wasn't a big deal, because Noriko really didn't want to be around Yukari. Whenever the two saw each other in the halls, Yukari would smile and wave at Noriko, and Noriko would wave back out of politeness.

As for Noriko's solo career? It was just as successful as the producer expected it to be. Noriko's debut single, a cover of Sweet Donuts by Perfume, sold 60,000 in it's first week and was _still_ charting. Her sunny personality kept getting her invited on variety shows and she even made her acting debut on a TVN mini series. But her favorite thing was being chosen as a poster girl for a popular donuts shop, of course.

Everything was good until around March. Due to Airi and Yuka's stunt, Sweetches's debut single was delayed. Instead of a February release, it was now pushed back to April. They had just finished shooting the music video when Shizuku excitedly turned to Noriko in the locker room.”

“Noriko, guess what's coming up?”

“Your debut?” Noriko guessed.

“Bless your heart, you're right! But something else is happening at the end of the week… something I think you'd be interested in.”

“What is it? Does it involve donuts?”

“Well it could, if you want. But it's that time of the year for agency elections!”

“Agency what?!”

“I should explain! So every March all the idols vote for who should be the Cinderella Girl of the year.”

“What's so special about that?”

“Well… the top three girls get crowned at a ceremony. We all get dressed up and can each bring a guest. It's like a ball.”

“That sounds fun! When is the party?”

“June. It's always the second Saturday of June!”

“I'm going to put donuts on my dress. I wish I could sew…”

“Don't worry, Noriko! We can go ask Kirari or Shin! They'd definitely help us!”

“Good idea!”

*****

Because it was a Friday evening, the office had quieted down. Yuka used the downtime to do all her tasks and now she was sitting at the desk, twirling her pen around her fingers as she stared at something on the company laptop. The tv that was in the corner of the room was on, but Yuka wasn't paying attention to it. She usually put it on the weather channel and let Local on the 8’s play as background music.

As for what Yuka was looking up… when she first entered the company, Kaede once told her that she shouldn't search herself on the internet. She said it wasn't wise, because it could hurt Yuka's mentality. But Yuka liked to believe that she wasn't so sensitive.

She was on 2chan, which was where she posted anonymous hate comments about Noriko. First they'd be tame things like “I think Noriko is too short to be an idol” (Yuka failed to find the irony in this, as she was only two centimeters taller than Noriko)  and as Yuka's hatred grew more and more, her comments would get downright extreme. She'd claim that Noriko was not only screwing the producer and her sponsors and that she did drugs to maintain her peppy attitude.

Of course, Yuka would get clocked by Noriko's fans immediately and she'd eventually give up. Degenerates, she'd call them.

But today, Yuka decided to look up something else - herself. Because she was inactive, she wasn't much of a trending topic anymore. One person made a thread asking where she went. But then there was another person, telling a story about an incident two days ago.

Yuka had been working in the office, mindlessly filing some paperwork when someone called. She answered the phone.

“Cinderella Productions, Yuka Nakano speaking…” Yuka started, and she immediately regretted it. Normally she used a fake name, but this time, she forgot.

Apparently, talking to Yuka on the phone was enough for the caller to forget about whatever she called for.

“No way. This is Yuka Nakano? The idol?” the girl asked. She sounded like she was in middle school.

“Yes…” Yuka said.

“Is she working in the office?” another middle school girl asked in the background.

“I think so.” the girl turned her attention back to Yuka. “Do you work there because Noriko stole your career?”

“Is it true that you're a has-been?” her friend asked in the background.

“Mellow Yellow tanked because of you, right?”

The incessant badgering from the two middle school girls was making Yuka grip the phone out of anger. Truth was, she was livid. Livid that a few months ago, these girls would've been kissing the ground she walked on.

“Listen here!” Yuka finally said, silencing the two callers. “You two have no idea what the fuck you're talking about, you stupid brats. How dare you talk to me like…”

“Shut the fuck up you flop ass bitch!” the girl yelled. “Stay mad that Noriko stole everything you had and you're nothing but a bitter hag!”

“Flop flop flop!” the other girl shouted.

The two dissolved into giggles and Yuka slammed the phone down, hanging up. She decided to say fuck her shift and ran into the bathroom, locked herself into a stall and cried.

The post on 2chan though, had increased her anger ten fold. She slammed the laptop shut with so much force that she was sure she broke it.

The next thing Yuka wanted to do was pick up the laptop and beat Noriko with it. Maybe rip her hair off. Burn her alive. Put bleach in her donuts… maybe she'd…

“Jesus Christ, Yuka.” she said to herself finally. “You're better than that…”

“Hey… who are you talking to?” Kanako had walked into the office, all dressed up to go home.

“What are you talking about?” Yuka asked innocently. “Maybe you should eat something if you're hallucinating like that.”

“You're so rude! I come in here to be with you and you talk to me like that?”

Yuka rolled her eyes. “Kanako. What do you want?”

“I wanted to remind you what was coming up. It's almost…”

“Election time.” Yuka finished.

“We're all going to vote for you.” Kanako smiled. “I got Chieri to campaign for you. I think you've got this year in the bag.”

“If I do, I can finally do something that's on my level.” Yuka said. “And things will be back to normal.”

Kanako nodded. She was forever in awe over the fact that Yuka always won the election. Well, she won for the last three years. Kanako first thought it was because Yuka had that “it” factor but it turned out that no one wanted Yuka to lose. It wasn't because she was well liked… but rather, because she was feared.

“I hope so too.” Kanako said. “Voting is at the end of the week. The preliminary results will be posted on Monday.”

Yuka couldn't help but to smirk. “I can't wait to come in first again.”

*****

The next Monday, Chihiro had arrived to the agency early because she needed to post the election results. If she didn't do it first thing in the morning, she'd be swarmed by curious girls who wanted the results. She had printed them out the night before - the top three’s publication photos, and a list of everyone else.

First came third place. Chihiro posted Kaede's picture, and then moved on to the second. She felt mild anxiety as she shuffled between Noriko and Yuka's pictures. Should she do what was right? Or should she do what she felt should've been right?

Chihiro thought about this for a few minutes, before finally posting the pictures under the first and second places.

She did what she had to do.

*****

Noriko was hanging out with Shizuku in Practice Room #6 when the door opened up. It was Mizuki, who had interrupted Shizuku and Noriko's conversation about cow facts.

“Good evening, Mizuki.” The two girls greeted in unison.

“Hello girls. You're probably wondering why I'm here, aren't you? I have something exciting to share!”

“You do?” Noriko jumped up from the floor. “What is it? It has to be something good, right?”

“Of course it is!” Mizuki answered. “You'd think I'd be happy if it was something bad? You must not have seen it when you came in, but you're first place in the preliminarily of the election!”

“What?!”

Shizuku touched Noriko's shoulder and smiled at her. “Congratulations!”

“But I didn't win, right?” Noriko asked nervously.

“No. However… the preliminaries are usually very similar to the final results. I'd say they are about 95% accurate.”

“Whoa! Now I really need to ask Kirari or Shin to make my donut dress. But… can I see it? I want to see the results and go take a picture of them. I want to send them to my parents. Where are they?”

“In the west hallway adjacent to the lobby!” Mizuki answered.

“Okay Shizuku, let's go!”

The two girls ran down to the west hallway, paying no mind to the “no running in the corridors” sign on the walls. They were too excited to care. But their excitement turned to anxiety once they saw the display.

Half of Noriko's portrait was torn off, and the other half had been soaked with some sort of liquid. The colors from the portrait leaked down the wall and onto the floor. The hallway smelled of bleach.

Noriko couldn't bring herself to say anything, as she could feel the tears coming. Despite everything, she was still only a thirteen year old girl. However, Shizuku was different.

“Who did this?” she yelled out, turning around. “Who did this? Who?” Her voice was loud and assertive. It was very unlike Shizuku, who spoke slowly and in a very “my pace” sort of manner.

“I think I'm going to do a psychic reading to find out.” Yuko spoke up. She, along with Miku, were standing nearby.

“Yuko.” Shizuku groaned. Normally she didn't mind Yuko's attempts at channeling the supernatural but now was not the time.

“Come on, do you seriously need a psychic reading to figure out who did it?” Miku pointed at Yuka's portrait, which was under the “2nd”.

“Of course…” Noriko said under her breath.

“She needs to be stopped nya! She's such a bad kitty…”

Noriko turned around and ran away, and Shizuku followed her. She found her younger friend in the locker room, taking her shoes out.

“Where are you going?” Shizuku questioned.

“I'm going home.” Noriko announced. “I'm going to go home and cry until I fall asleep… why can't Yuka leave me alone?”

“I don't know. But don't go home and cry.” Shizuku said. “Hey I know. Let's go out and do something fun. Like… sing karaoke. How does that sound? It should distract you, right?”

“Right.” Noriko nodded. “Let's… hold on. There's something in my shoe.”

Noriko turned her sneaker upside down, expecting for something to fall out. And surprise, surprise. A few shards of glass fell onto the locker room floor.

“Oh shit.” Shizuku swore.

“That's it. I'm going back to Osaka.” Noriko announced. “I'm going back to Osaka and becoming a normal girl. Will you visit me…?”

“I think we should tell the producer when he comes in tomorrow. What do you think? Maybe if we do that… she'll have her contract terminated.”

“Okay okay okay. It's a plan.”

“I'll come with you too. Two voices are better than one. So are we going to karaoke?”

“Yes. But first… I need to go ask Chihiro something. She's still here, right?”

“She should be. I think I heard she's staying late.”

“Great. You go first. I'll meet you there!”

“See you soon!”

Shizuku left the practice room, and Noriko hung around for a bit in the locker room. She picked up the glass then waited until she was sure Shizuku was off the premises.

Then she headed to the office, which was, of course, closed. She thought long and hard. It was a Monday night. Where could Yuka be?

The answer was as clear as day.

*****

“I don't like this.”

“Do you like anything that I do? Be honest.”

For some insane reason, Yuka decided to invite Yukari over her apartment. Her apartment was located in a nice area near the agency. Yuka's apartment overlooked a huge park, which was nice to look down at in the fall and during cherry blossom season. However, as it was night time, it was like looking down at a sea of darkness.

“You need to stop. Why did you agree to help me put glass in Noriko's shoes? Surely it's not because you like her, right?”

“You know how I feel about Noriko. However… I think your little set up is…”

Yukari was referring to Yuka's dartboard that was in the living room. Normally, it was a standard dartboard, but Yuka had decided to get creative and print out a picture of Noriko. She taped it to the board and then threw darts at “Noriko”.

“Brilliant, right? You know you want to have a try.” Yuka handed Yukari a dart, and Yukari threw it, missing the board by a considerable margin.

“Nice.” Yuka quipped, her voice laced with sarcasm.

“Unlike you, I'm not very athletic, karate girl!”

“Don't call me that.”

“Sorry.”

There was an awkward silence before someone knocked on the door. The two girls just stared at each other, until Yuka spoke up.

“Hey maid. Get the door.”

Yukari rolled her eyes and tended to the door. She opened it to see Noriko standing there. Noriko.

“Hi Noriko… what are you doing here?” Yukari asked.

“I want to talk to Yuka. Let me talk to Yuka! This is her apartment! Right? Right?!”

“Jesus Christ. Calm down.” Yuka said cooly from where she was standing. “Yukari, let her in.”

“Noriko, I think you should try to talk to Yuka tomorrow.” Yukari said shakily. She was starting to get a bad feeling from this.

“What did I tell you?” Yuka shouted.

“I want to talk to her.” Noriko repeated. “Excuse me.”

She walked past Yukari, feeling like she was ready to take on the world… until she got into the living room and saw Yuka's dart board. That caused her to stop in her tracks.

“Welcome to my apartment.” Yuka greeted, a saccharine smile on her face. “What brings you here?”

“You know why I'm here.” Noriko said. She was trying to be assertive but she felt too nervous. Her voice was shaky and she was shaking.

“I'm going to assume you got my gift for coming in first place.” Yuka said, still smiling. “Did you like it?”

Something had taken over Noriko and the next thing you know, Noriko charged over to Yuka and slapped her so hard that the older girl fell to the ground. Yukari gasped as Yuka got up. She was expecting for a fight to break out, or at the very least, a yelling match. But nothing happened.

“Why do you hate me so much?” Noriko asked. “What did I do? I just want to know.”

“I'll tell you outside.” Yuka answered. “It's kind of warm, isn't it? Let's go walk in the park. Come on Yukari.”

“I don't want to go.”

“You don't have a choice.”

“Okay.”

*****

Noriko, Yuka, and Yukari walked through the park. They were walking along a path, which was illuminated by street lights. The group had been walking for ten minutes until Noriko realized that she had to say something because Shizuku was waiting for her.

“Yuka.”

“What?”

“Are you going to ever tell me why you hate me?”

“Hmm… how do I put this? Wouldn't you hate someone if they stole your career? Everything that you have now… is supposed to be mine.”

“But that's not my fault!” Noriko cried out. “I didn't choose to be in this position, and if I could, I'd give everything to you! Anything to get you to leave me alone! I did nothing wrong!”

“You really mean that? Or are you saying that because you want to please me?”

“Of course I mean it!” Noriko smiled nervously. “If I get crowned as Cinderella Girl… I'll let you have the tiara and the benefits. How does that sound?”

“It sounds like… it sounds like you're patronizing me!” Yuka shouted, and grabbed Noriko by her ponytail with so much force it felt like her scalp was on fire.

“Let go of me!” Noriko shouted. “Let go…”

But Yuka didn't let go. Noriko pushed Yuka off of her and it took one look at Yuka's angry eyes that there was only one thing she could do.

Run.

She ran down the path, going in the opposite direction that they were walking in. Noriko was trying to retrace her steps but it was too dark to figure anything out. She just had to keep running… and hope that she'd run into someone or a group of people.

“Get back here, you fucking bitch!”

Noriko knew better than to turn around, but she could see from the shadows on the pavement that Yuka was running right behind her.

“Yuka! Slow down…” Yukari called from the distance, but it was no use. Noriko knew nothing would stop Yuka. Nothing. She was starting to fear for her life, and decided that she had to take a desperate measure.

She decided to run off of the path, disappearing into the darkness. The only problem was, Noriko ended up tumbling down a bank, falling into a river. Her ankle stung with pain and the water was cold, but at least she blended into the darkness.

She hoped Yuka couldn't find her.

“Where'd she go? Noriko, Noriko, I have some donuts for you. Come out and I'll treat you…”

“Yuka, I think we should just go back.” Yukari said, panting as she finally caught up with Yuka.

“You can go back if you want, you weak bitch. I have business to take care of.”

“I am not weak! I am not weak! I am not weak!” Yukari yelled.

“Shut up! You're the definition of weak! After this, I never want you to talk to me again!”

“You're such a cunt!”

“Fuck you!”

Yuka then pushed Yukari down off into the river bank, unaware that Noriko was down there. However, unlike Noriko, Yukari was in better shape after her fall. She stood up, and then looked around, to see Noriko cowering in the water.

Noriko's heart was in her throat as she made eye contact with Yukari.

“Help me…” Noriko begged.

“I'm sorry.” Yukari told her, then she yelled out. “Yuka! Get down here! I found her!”

Not even five seconds had passed until Yuka charged down like a bull. Noriko screamed once she saw Yuka and tried to get up but her ankle hurt so bad it was no use. She fell back down into the creek.

“You thought you could run, huh? Where are your fans now?”

“Please, Yuka, please… I'll retire and live quietly. You can do what you want. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.”

“If you were really sorry you wouldn't have gotten greedy in the first place.” Yuka told her, grabbing Noriko by her ponytail. She then submerged Noriko’s head under the water, expecting Noriko to just take it. However Noriko's survival instinct kicked in and she shot up so fast it knocked Yuka back. Yukari watched on in horror as Noriko struggled to get her breath back.

“Please… please… please…” she begged. “Why can't we just get along?”

“Because in this industry, you can't just get along!” Yuka shouted, grabbing a nearby rock that was about the size of an American football. She slammed it against Noriko's forehead so many times she lost count.

Finally, Yukari couldn't watch it anymore. She tackled Yuka to the ground, effectively stopping her.

“What is it?” Yuka asked.

“I think Noriko got the point.” Yukari told her. “You should stop. Hey Noriko… get up.”

But Noriko didn't get up. She was still laying there, eyes open, mouth open, and blood gushing from her forehead.

“Um… Noriko this isn't funny, get up!” Yukari repeated, this time her voice full of urgency.

“Well she's a good actress, if her acting debut means anything. I'm going to go back and…”

As Yuka was talking, Yukari checked Noriko's pulse.

There was none.

“Yuka.” Yukari solemnly interrupted.

“Hmm?”

“Noriko is dead. She doesn't have a pulse.”

The two girls stared at each other for a while in silence.

“You killed her.” Yukari started. “You fucking killed her! I'm going to call the police!”

“And then what?” Yuka asked cooly. “You'd get arrested too as an accomplice. Do you really want that?”

Yukari, who had started to take out her phone, immediately put it back into her pocket.

There was more silence until Kawaii Make My Day came on out of nowhere. It felt like a sick joke until Yuka dug around in Noriko's purse and saw that Noriko's phone was ringing.

Shizuku was calling.

Yuka threw the phone into the river, clearly annoyed by Noriko's choice in ringtone.

“So what do we do now?” Yukari asked.

“Call up Airi and Kanako. We have work to do.”


	4. Chapter IV - Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't read this while eating lol

**_Chapter IV - Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice_ **

Airi and Kanako responded to Yukari’s phone call with confusion, but it was the kind of confusion that would cause one to stop what they were doing, and head out to the park at 10 pm on a Monday night. Yukari had said that she would meet them by the entrance, so the two were standing there… along with a special guest.

“Nono?” Yukari greeted.

“G-good evening Y-yukari.” Nono greeted.

“Don't take this the wrong way or anything… but why is she here?” 

“Right. Before you called us, we were teaching Nono to be more like an idol and less like herself.” Kanako explained. “Airi explained it best…”

“Sad bitches make shit idols!” Airi said, winking cutely.

“Oh… okay. Well I wasn't expecting Nono, but I guess it's fine. I mean, she's old enough, right?” Yukari began to nervously wring her hands.

“Aren’t you only one year older than her?” Kanako asked. 

“Well that's true. But Nono is sensitive and I'm not sure if she can handle it.”

“I-if it's r-really a b-bad idea I-I will g-go home.” Nono told them.

“No. It's fine. I'm sure whatever Yukari has to show us, it won't be that bad… right?” Airi asked cheerfully. “Let's go!”

Yukari nervously lead the group through the park, trying her hardest not to lose it as Airi and Kanako talked excitedly about the newest episode of Cake Wars. She wished they could be silent like Nono, so Yukari could think.

Yukari still could not believe that the events that transpired not even an hour ago were real. Did that really happen? Did Yuka really kill Noriko? Was this a nightmare…?

It wasn't, unfortunately.

“Okay guys, follow me.” Yukari lead the group down to the creek, expecting  _ some _ opposition, but surprisingly, there was none. Kanako looked suspicious though, but she didn't say anything.

“Fucking finally.” Yuka greeted the group.

“Um… what exactly is going on here?” Kanako asked, looking around.

“Are we… camping?” Airi questioned. “Can one of you tell me what we're doing here?”

Yukari turned to Yuka. “What are you doing? Why are you being so quiet? Tell them what you did.”

Yuka laughed. “Take a look.” She raised her foot, then kicked something on the ground. Once the girls noticed what it was, they all gasped. Kanako grabbed Yuka by her arm and got into her face.

“What the hell? Did you do that?”

“I should be direct.” Yuka shoved Kanako away. “I killed Noriko. So what? She had it coming.”

“Listen, I know Noriko was annoying as hell but did you really have to  _ murder _ her?” Airi asked. “What the fuck, Yuka? You're going to go to jail. I'm calling the police.”

Yuka shook her head. “And when the police come I'll tell them that you guys just stood and watched. Is it really worth telling? I'll drag you guys down with me.”

Yuka continued. “I don't see why you guys think this is a bad thing. I don't think you guys realize that with Noriko gone, things will go back to normal.”

“By that you mean you'll get your solo back?” Kanako guessed. 

“Yes. And I'm sure good things will come to you as well. Airi will get her cooking show back. Hm…”

“Okay whatever. Whatever! It doesn't matter why you killed her but what's done is done!” Airi exclaimed. “Did you call us out here just to show off?”

“No. I called you guys because I need help.” Yuka admitted. “How do you dispose of a body…?”

“Well we should make her unrecognizable.” Kanako suggested. “Because right now, anyone could recognize her.”

“So…” Airi began.

“Clearly we ruin her cute little face.” Yuka smirked. “I have just the thing in my bathroom.”

“But we aren't in your bathroom now, are we?” Yukari brought herself to say.

“We should be able to drag her back into the apartment undetected. No one is out in this neighborhood after 10:30 on a Monday night.” Yuka told them.

“Well let's go.” Kanako told them. “It's cold.”

“And what do we do if we get stopped?” Yukari asked.

Airi shrugged. “Just say we're helping our shit faced friend.”

*****

Back up in Yuka's apartment, the girls were staring at Noriko's lifeless body, who was laying across a fleece blanket. Yukari had started praying, while Nono, Kanako, and Airi just stared at the dead girl. Yuka was going through the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

“You know… I can't say that I'm sad about her death.” Kanako admitted.

“You and me both.” Airi agreed. “Yuka actually kind of did us a favor. I just wish she would've thought this through. Just how are we supposed to dispose of a dead body?”

“That's easy.” Nono spoke up.

“Oh? What do you suggest?” Kanako asked.

“We eat her.”

“Excuse me?”

“Hello? Is that your idea of a joke, Nono?”

“I-I wasn't joking.” Nono stammered out, looking embarrassed. “Y-you s-ee, K-k-koume and I w-watched a-a movie w-where t-the c-characters ate t-the g-girl who h-had g-good q-qualities a-and they a-absorbed h-her g-good p-parts…”

“Nono, you sick fuck! That was obviously a work of fiction!” Airi exclaimed. “Fuck! Why didn't Yuka kill  _ you _ instead?”

“Guys…” Yukari finally spoke up. “I don't think it's wise to encourage Yuka to kill anyone else.”

“Shut up!” Airi and Kanako yelled in unison, and Yukari shrank back.

“B-back t-to w-what I-I w-was s-saying… a-after w-we finished the m-movie, K-k-koume said t-t-that t-there w-was s-some t-t-truth in t-t-that.”

The girls grew silent. As there were 200 idols under Cinderella Productions, there were girls who had interests in strange things. One of those girls was Koume Shirasaka, a horror enthusiast who had knowledge on the occult and things that the other girls couldn't dream of thinking about. In other words, they trusted Koume’s word on this.

“Really?” Airi asked. “Hmm… well, we do need to get rid of the body.”

“If it helps us… I mean… sure.” Kanako agreed.

“Wait here.” Airi then disappeared into the kitchen, and when she returned, she was holding a huge bowl and a butcher knife.

“Wait you weren't joking?” Yukari asked.

“If you don't like blood and guts I recommend that you leave now.” Airi warned her as she handed Nono the knife. “As for you… since you are the expert here, you have the honor of cutting her up.”

“Got it!” Nono exclaimed with the most excitement that anyone had heard from her. However, just as she raised the butcher knife, Yuka walked out of the bathroom, holding a small bottle.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Yuka yelled, and Nono immediately dropped the knife, so that it fell onto Noriko's hand.

“They're trying to eat Noriko!” Yukari snitched.

“What?!”

“They're trying to eat Noriko!”

“One of you better explain what the hell she's talking about!”

“Okay. Hear us out.” Airi stood up and smiled at Yuka. “Nono and her creepy friend decided to watch a movie and in the movie these people eat a popular character and the traits that made said character popular passed on to them.”

“That sounds like bullshit. Are you seriously that dumb?”

“You call us dumb but according to Koume, there's some truth in what she's talking about. So we're going to experiment and see if it's the truth!” 

“All of you can get out of my house and take Noriko with you if you're going to slaughter and then eat her! That's where I draw the line!”

“First of all you can't slaughter someone who is already dead…” Yukari corrected.

“Did I fucking ask?” 

“Hmm… well you can sit this out. But who knows. Maybe if you have a taste, the producer will see what he saw in Noriko and give you that solo career you wanted. Are you willing to take this chance?” Airi asked.

“Good question.” Yuka said, picking up the knife, tearing off Noriko's coat and shirt, and then forced the knife into Noriko's skin. She cut out a square, getting blood everywhere.

“Nice.” Nono said.

“Um… now what?”

“We gotta get the good stuff out I guess. Put her insides into this bowl.” Kanako instructed.

“I only stabbed her because I wanted to know what it felt like! I couldn't stab her while she was alive.”

“Whatever. I'll take over from here.” 

Nono dug around, exploring Noriko's bloody insides with her bare hands. Much to the horror and fascination of the other girls, Nono didn't flinch at all.

They were all staring wordlessly as the bowl of Noriko's internal organs.

“How are we supposed to ingest these?” Kanako asked. “Are we going to eat them raw?”

“Not exactly. Let's grind these up and bake them into cupcakes. That should make us forget, right?” Airi suggested. She picked up the bowl and headed to the kitchen. Kanako followed.

The two of them did love baking…

Nono went into the bathroom, to wash her hands, and Yuka and Yukari were still sitting there, staring at the now bloody Noriko.

“Now what?”

“We make her unrecognizable.”

Using the butcher knife, Yuka stabbed Noriko in her legs and arms. Yukari took it one step forward and slit Noriko's throat. The next thing to go was the hair. Yuka hacked 95% of it off, leaving Noriko's signature donut barrette in her hair. Nono was carving out shapes in Noriko's thighs when Airi skipped in with a dozen cupcakes.

“Bon appetit!” Airi greeted. 

Kanako followed her in, with a cupcake in her mouth.

“So… how does it taste?” Yukari asked nervously.

“Like your average vanilla cupcake. We were able to drown out the taste of… you know, everything by adding sugar, and we put what we could into a food processor so that you can barely tell.”

“Amazing. You two are so talented.” Yuka said. “Now… let's eat.”

The girls sat around and ate Airi's “Noriko-flavored” cupcakes, and were surprised to see that Kanako was right - despite Noriko's blood and guts being the main ingredient, it tasted like a standard vanilla cupcake.

“Wow… I wasn't kidding when you said you guys were talented.” Yuka said.

“A compliment from the princess herself?” Airi giggled.

“Considering how you just cut up a girl and baked her into cupcakes… is that really something to be proud of?” Yukari asked.

“Why are you acting like you didn't have a part in this?” Nono said. “God. You're so annoying.”

“Wait a second. Your stutter is gone.” Kanako realized. “It must've worked. Wow… Koume was right.”

“Anyway, can we get this dead girl out of my apartment?” Yuka asked. “She's starting to smell.”

“Let's put her in a bag and throw her out.” Yukari suggested. “If she gets taken to the landfill, no one will ever find out.”

“So you are smart at times.”

“I'll go get the bag!” Airi sang out, running towards the closet.

“Hey Yuka. What's in that bottle that you got from your bathroom?” Kanako asked. “Weren't you going to use it?”

“Oh this?” Yuka picked up the bottle. “It's Nitric Acid. I use it to clean my jewelry. But now, I'm going to use it to clean something else.” She unscrewed the bottle and then dumped all of it onto Noriko's face. The other girls watched in horror as Noriko's peaceful expression became disfigured by the acid, burning through her flesh and transforming into something unrecognizable.

“I… well… um…” Yukari began.

“Hey, hey, hey, I'm back!” Airi shouted, returning to the room with an industrial trash bag. Her sunny expression faded though when she smelled the acid burning Noriko's flesh. She looked down, and yelped once she saw the current state of Noriko's face.

“What did you guys… no. Just get this bitch in the bag.”

It was a team effort, but the girls managed to get Noriko into the bag. Then they made their way down to the street, where Yuka lead them to a dumpster behind a building three blocks away. As the residential neighborhood was dead at this time of night, they were able to throw Noriko and her bag into the dumpster.

“Good job team!” Airi cheered. “Now let's go back and celebrate a job well done.”

“Hold it.” Yuka spoke up. “There's one last thing I need to do…”

“What's that?” Kanako and Yukari asked in unison.

Yuka walked over to the dumpster, climbed up the edge and reached in her pocket. She pulled out a lighter.

“Hold on.” Yukari shouted. “Hold on!! Don't you think setting a dumpster on fire is a bad idea?”

“No.” Yuka turned the lighter on, and held it out towards a pile of nearby newspapers. As she jumped off, the contents of the dumpster burst to flames, taking Noriko with it.

“Jesus Christ.” Airi said. “Was that really necessary?”

With a smirk on her face, Yuka nodded. “Of course it was. That bitch got what she deserved.”

*****

The next morning, Shizuku was waiting nervously in Practice Room #6. She had been practicing choreography for an hour, trying to take her mind off the current situation.

Last night, Shizuku had went to the karaoke place and got a room for her and Noriko. Noriko did tell Shizuku to wait for her, but Shizuku wasn't expecting to wait for that long. After waiting an hour, Shizuku decided to call Noriko to ask her what was going on. Noriko's phone rang the first time, but after that it went straight to voicemail. She called five times before assuming that Noriko’s phone died and that she was still coming. Shizuku ended up singing alone for an hour to calm her nerves, but at the end of the day, Noriko didn't show up.

Shizuku decided to head home.

Now, Shizuku was trying to think about what she'd say when Noriko would walk into the practice room. Maybe she'd ask what happened. Maybe she'd scold Noriko for ghosting on her. 

Why was Shizuku getting such a bad feeling from this? She decided that she was going to dance until the bad feeling went away. So she walked over to the radio, getting ready to turn it on, when the door opened.

It was Chihiro.

“Shizuku.” Chihiro called out. Her voice was raw and her demeanor was off. She wasn't the cheerful woman Shizuku knew her as. Chihiro’s mood was somber, and her eyes seemed to be swollen… as if she were crying.

“Yes…?” Shizuku asked. If her nerves weren't running wild before, they were definitely running wild now.

“The producer would like to see you in his office.”

“Okay.”

Shizuku followed Chihiro out of the office, starting to wonder if she got fired. That made sense, right? Why else would Chihiro be sad? But that wasn't the case. As they made their way to the office, they passed by a bunch of crying girls. Kaede and Mizuki stood out to Shizuku, Kaede was inconsolable, sobbing that it was 'all her fault’, while Mizuki, also in tears, tried to calm her down.

“Chihiro…” Shizuku began as they arrived in the hallway right in front of the office. Shizuku wasn't dumb… she had a fair idea of what was going on. However, Shizuku did not want to face reality just yet.

But she didn't have a choice. There was a scream from inside the office, the kind of scream that was anguished. It wasn't the kind of scream that one let out when they were hurt, no… it was the kind of scream that one let out when they lost somebody.

“My baby!! My poor baby!! Why did the Lord have to take her?! Why? Why? Why? She was only thirteen… thirteen!! She had her entire life ahead of her and yet…” whoever it was, their words became unintelligible as they were drowned under tears.

Shizuku couldn't do this anymore. She ran into the office, not caring if she was being rude. She needed someone to confirm if her worst fear had come true.

No one had to say anything. All Shizuku had to see was the normally stoic producer hugging a vaguely familiar woman, who was sobbing loudly. She was holding something in her hands… Noriko's signature donut barrette.

“No!” Shizuku shouted, interrupting the woman's sobbing.

“Shizuku.” The producer started. “Could you go back out into the…”

“No! I need to know what's going on! Did something happen to Noriko? Is she hurt?”

The producer sighed. “Noriko has passed on.”

“What?! No way. No way… what happened?”

“Emergency services responded to a fire behind an apartment building… they found Noriko in a bag, cut up and burnt. An autopsy was conducted this morning and she died from blunt trauma to the skull. Besides being burned up, her internal organs were missing and she was cut up. There was Nitric Acid in her system as well.”

“You're lying! You're lying… you have to be lying. That's so brutal and a terrible way to go…” Shizuku said. She wanted to cry but she couldn't. She was too numb.

“If… if my baby girl had to die… why couldn't she die in a more peaceful way…” Noriko's mom asked, and then she started crying again. “God… I need to get out of here, crying like this. I'll go back to the hotel.” She turned to the producer. “I will call you with the details of the funeral. Now how do I get out of here?”

The producer opened his mouth, probably to give directions to the front. But Shizuku spoke first.

“I’ll lead you out.”

“And you are?”

“This is Shizuku Oikawa. She is one of Noriko's good friends here at the agency.” The producer said.

Noriko's mother nodded. “If you were Noriko's friend, then you're also a friend of mine.”

Shizuku nodded as she lead Noriko's mother out of the office. The two walked in silence until they made it to the west hall. Shizuku wanted to say something, anything to make Noriko's mother feel better. But there was nothing that could've been said to bring Noriko back.

“Are you really Noriko's friend?” Noriko's mother finally asked.

“Yes. We got along well. She liked listening to my talk about cows… I'd listen to her talk about donuts. It was just a friendship where we supported each other.”

Noriko's mom laughed. “That sounds like my daughter alright… I'm going to miss her banter about donuts…”

“So will everyone else. I really wish I could've done something…”

“Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault.”

“I'll try my hardest not to…”

“Oh… Shizuku was it? I want you to have this.” She handed Shizuku Noriko's barrette.

“Are you giving this to me?”

Noriko's mother nodded.

“But is it really okay? Don't you want to keep it?”

“It's fine, Shizuku. We have Noriko's things at home. She would want you to have this. She would want you to have something for you to remember her by.”

“Thank you.” Shizuku said, accepting the barrette. “I'll take good care of it!”

The two were about to walk by the portraits of the election winners, when Shizuku saw something that made her want to escort Noriko's mother in the other direction.

Yuka was staring at Noriko's picture, looking sad and biting down on her thumb. 

“Hey… maybe we should…” Shizuku began, but Yuka heard her and looked at both Shizuku and Noriko's mother, walking over to them. Yuka looked like she cried a great deal, which was funny to Shizuku. She began to wonder if Noriko ever told her mother about Yuka…

“You must be Noriko's mother. I'm sorry for your loss.” Yuka said.

Are you? Shizuku wanted to ask, Are you really?

“You were Noriko's groupmate, night? Yuka…” Noriko's mother sighed deeply. “I accept your condolences.”

“It was really upsetting hearing about what happened…” Yuka sighed. “What happened to her… I wouldn't wish on my own enemy. Whoever did that to Noriko is a bonafide psychopath. I hope they go to jail for the rest of their lives…”

“Me too.” 

“She was really popular here.” Yuka pointed to Noriko's portrait and the flowers that were placed on the floor. “She would've been crowned Cinderella Girl if … you know. I was just paying my respects.” 

“Why?” Shizuku asked. 

“What do you mean, why?” Yuka challenged. “Why not? Am I supposed to be happy that she died? Sure we didn't get along but I feel like shit! I should've been nicer to her…”

“You think?” Shizuku shouted. “I get the feeling that you're only saying that because you don't want Noriko's mother to find out how you really treated her!”

“Girls, let's not argue about such things.” Noriko's mother spoke up. “Noriko wouldn't want this.”

“You're right.” Shizuku nodded. “But…”

“Grieving is a process… eventually, we will all accept it, but for now, it's best that we all grieve in our own ways.”

“You're telling me.” Yuka sighed yet again. “I've lost someone too. Well… two people that were very important to me…”

“I'm sorry. I hope they're in a better place.”

“Huh… what are you talking about?” Shizuku asked, turning to Yuka. She had never heard this before. “Are you telling the truth?”

“Do you seriously think I'd lie to you about my dead parents?” Yuka cried out. “Why do you think you guys never hear about Mr. and Mrs. Nakano?”

“Well I'm sorry. I didn't know.” Shizuku sighed. 

“Well Yuka, I'm sorry for your losses.” Noriko's mother told her. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too.” Yuka said back, then she turned on her heels and walked away, smirking to herself. While her parents being dead wasn't a lie, everything else was. She thanked her acting lessons and then went off to go find Yukari to tell her about how she tricked Noriko's mother.

Back in the hallway, Shizuku was squeezing Noriko's barrette, trying to process what just happened. Maybe it  _ was _ possible that Yuka felt regretful… that was a common reaction. But then again, something didn't seem to add up.

“What a nice girl.” Noriko's mother said.

“Yeah… I guess she is nice.” Shizuku said half heartedly. She wanted to expose Yuka then and there, but that wouldn't be wise, especially given the mental state of Noriko's mother.

“There was something about her that was interesting though. Do you smell that?”

Shizuku blinked in confusion. “Smell what? I don't smell anything weird.”

“I'm a hospice nurse. So I deal with people who have health issues and are about to die.”

“Oh cool…” Shizuku nodded, even though she had no idea where Noriko's mother was going with this. “What does that mean though?”

“Shizuku, maybe you're too young to understand this, but when people die, they have a certain smell to them.”

“They do?”

“Yes. It's associated with death and the deceased. Yet... for some reason… I could smell that scent and the scent of dried blood on Yuka.”

“I couldn't smell anything.” Shizuku admitted.

Noriko's mom just laughed nervously. “You're right. I must be imagining things.”

Or was she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now the fun starts.


	5. Chapter V - See When You Do Clownery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the games begin.

**_Chapter V - See When You Do Clownery_ **

It took a few weeks after Noriko's funeral for Cinderella Productions to go back to normal. There was still some sadness of course, but things were slowly getting back to business. Shizuku, with the help of Mizuki and Kaede, set up a little memorial for Noriko down in the front hall. The other idols would stop and pay respects to her, laying out flowers and stuffed animals. Shizuku even hunted down a donut plush and placed it there.

Noriko was really loved, and her absence was felt. Due to her death, Sweetches had to not only re-record their single, but they also had to shoot their music video all over again. Shizuku found it hard to smile and be happy, especially after hearing what used to be Noriko's part. But still, she powered on.

After the shooting, Shizuku and the rest of the girls were in the locker room. As the other four girls talked excitedly amongst themselves, Shizuku decided to hang back and listen.

“Hey guys!” Yukari exclaimed, running into the locker room. Something about her was different. Before, she was the type of girl that blended into the background, but now, she had somehow developed the charisma to become the kind of girl that commanded attention whenever she walked into the room. Shizuku couldn't help but to stare as Yukari joined the others.

“What's up, Yukari?” Airi asked.

Yukari looked around the group. “Where's Yuka? I want her to hear this.”

“Yuka? Who knows? I think she went home early after taking some solo jacket photos.” Kanako shrugged.

“Don't you think Yuka is a little too plain to have all this attention on her?” Nono asked, giggling. 

If one were to think that Yukari's changes were extreme, Nono’s were even more. She seemed like a different girl. It was like her depression and anxiety were magically fixed. In fact, she was very cheerful when she wasn't talking shit. The girl had started to wash her hair and take care of it, so it was no longer stringy. At first, it fell straight down to her shoulders, but then it began to curl up, into loose waves. She began to tie it into a high ponytail, although Nono did complain about how her hair magically changed textures.

“I think you better watch your mouth.” Airi snapped. “Keep your shit talking to a minimum. Yuka is more fit to go solo than any of us.”

“Right? There's a reason why she won Cinderella Girl this year and the three years before.” Kanako agreed.

“That's true. But don't you guys want to hear about my new job?” Yukari asked.

The other girls nodded in excitement.

“Get this… the producer got me booked to do a photoshoot for Vogue. Not only that, but guess who's going to be on the cover?”

“No way!” Kanako exclaimed. “I'm so happy for you.”

“You know, with how much weight you lost, you should join her!” Airi suggested. “Hey, hey, hey! Yukari, can you put in a good word for us? Book Sweetches a photoshoot.  _ Pleaseee?” _

Yukari giggled. “I'll see what I can do.”

“Amazing!” The other girls clapped and cheered until Nono got them to quiet down.

“We should invite Shizuku too. Hey Shizuku! Want to come join us?”

Shizuku shook her head. Truth to be told, she didn't like any of her group mates and didn't want to hang out with them outside of work. She wasn't going to let them know this though.

“I'll pass.” Shizuku said. “But you guys have fun, okay?”

Wanting to get away from them, Shizuku left the locker room. She didn't get very far, before she heard Kanako yell out. “Hey, I know, let's go get donuts!”

Shizuku walked away as fast as she could. Would she ever get over Noriko's death? It made her feel somewhat weak… that everyone else was able to move on with life except for her. Luckily, Shizuku was able to find a confidant in Noriko's mother, Chiyo, who had given her number to Shizuku after the funeral.

“Call me if you need anything.” she had said.

Chiyo told Shizuku that her feelings were perfectly valid considering how close she was to Noriko. She also told Shizuku not to put herself down for taking her time to grieve.

For that reason, she decided to go to Noriko's shrine and pay her respects yet again.

Shizuku made her way down to the front hall and found Noriko's memorial, which was near the elevator. No one else was around, which Shizuku was grateful for.

“Hey Noriko.” Shizuku said softly. “We had to reshoot our music video today, since you know… the company felt like it would be bad to release it with you in it. We all feel your absence. I thought I accepted it, but… the mere mention of donuts made me realize this was a thing to happen. And honestly, you'd probably yell at me if you were here, but I don't think I'd ever be able to eat donuts again.” Shizuku laughed at this, even though she could feel the tears coming on.

“Hey.”

Shizuku wiped her eyes and turned around to see that Nono had walked up to her.

“Hey Nono.” Shizuku greeted back. “What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to thank Noriko.” Nono said, smiling slyly.

“Thank her?” Shizuku repeated. “Why?”

“Because she taught me how to cheer up and enjoy life. And for that, I'm grateful.”

“That's good to hear.”

“I'm glad that you think so. But besides paying my respects to Noriko… I decided to come find you.”

“Why? What's the matter?”

“The matter is… I'm here to take back what belongs to me. I want my barrette back.” Nono pointed at Shizuku's hair, where she was wearing Noriko's donut barrette.

“Your barrette?” Shizuku repeated. “You know damn well that this doesn't belong to you!”

“What do you mean? It's mine because I said so. Now hand it over before I make you regret it!”

“Nono. This is Noriko's barrette and I'm not giving it to you! She wouldn't want you to have-”

“Hand it over!” Nono screamed, shoving Shizuku into the closed elevator door. The last thing Shizuku wanted was for Nono to get a hold of Noriko's barrette so she had to defend herself. She got up off of the elevator door and Nono started pulling on her short hair, trying to remove the barrette.

“Get off of me!” Shizuku cried out. She really didn't want to put her hands on the younger girl but with how Nono was clawing at her face...

“Give me my barrette! I want my barrette!” Nono shouted. Shizuku thrust her knee into Nono's stomach and felt relieved as the younger girl went sliding on the ground, screaming about how she needed her barrette.

Shizuku decided to get away, only to feel a sharp pain in her ankle. Noriko had bit her! Shizuku screamed as she fell down, accidentally hitting the “up” button on the elevator.

Nono wasted no time in swiping Noriko's barrette from Shizuku's hair. She stood in front of the elevator, which had now opened, and started toying with it.

“Thank you Shizuku. I'm really glad that you came around.”

“Please give it back.” Shizuku begged.

“No!” Nono shouted, kicking Shizuku in the chest. Shizuku gasped in pain and Nono laughed. She was about to pin the barrette into her hair when there was a ding. The elevator had closed.

Not only did the elevator close, but it closed on Nono's ponytail. 

Nono tried to inch her way out of the elevator, but it was of no use. The elevator, being high speed, began to move up, and Shizuku couldn't get a chance to even think about helping Nono before the elevator took Nono's head off.

Shizuku screamed as Nono's severed head hung from the top of the closed elevator doors, and her body - from the neck down, lay lifeless on the floor, blood pooling in a lake under it.

Shizuku would keep screaming until help finally came in the form of Tamami, who had also began screaming as well.

*****

“Wake up! Wake up! I know you're sleeping but wake up!”

Yuka had fallen asleep on her couch. It was true, she left the agency early, but had the intention of going back after she did what she had to do - take a bath. Yuka wasn't unhygienic in the slightest, but for some odd reason, she seemed to take on the smell of Noriko's body, bloodied up and maimed. Was it because she ate Noriko's organs? It couldn't be. The other girls hadn't smelled.

The last thing Yuka wanted to do for people to find out that she smelled and start making fun of her, so she decided to take a bath again even though she took one before going to bed last night. Yuka normally took baths before going to sleep because they made her tired.

This time was no exception. After scrubbing the shit out of her body, Yuka changed her clothes and fell asleep on her bed until her phone was vibrating. She answered in a half awake state… but woke up after Airi started yelling at her over the phone.

“Can you calm down? What are you so excited for?”

“I'm outside, coming up to your floor! Let me in!”

“You know how I feel about unexpected visits.”

“I don't give a fuck! Open the door!”

Yuka ended the call, but five minutes later, Airi was in Yuka's apartment, biting her nails.

“Can you stop that? Nail biting is so gross!” 

“I can't help it. Did you hear about Nono?”

“Why would I care about her?” Yuka asked nonchalantly. She didn't care at all about Nono. She was more concerned with the smell that had been plaguing her for the last few weeks.

“Because she  _ died _ , Yuka. Not even an hour ago she died!”

“How?” Yuka asked, suddenly paying attention.

“She got into a fight with Shizuku over Noriko's barrette.” Airi began. “Nono claimed it was hers and tried to steal it. Shizuku wasn't going to let that happen so they got into a mild scuffle. Nono got the barrette, but her hair got caught in the elevator… and got incapacitated.”

“Oh well. It was probably a freak accident Why was she claiming Noriko's barrette as hers?” Yuka asked.

“Why do you think? I think Noriko possessed her. Think about it! She's no longer anxious and depressed. Her new personality reminds me  _ so _ much of Noriko. Have you noticed her hair? It's different now… it's like Noriko's!”

“I think you're full of shit.” Yuka quipped.

“Say what you want, but after my shoot tomorrow I'm going to find an exorcist and get her out of me! I knew I shouldn't have listened to her, I knew it. Save yourself before it's too late!”

“Airi, get a hold of yourself. If what you're saying is true… no.” Yuka shook her head. “There's nothing to worry about! I think that Noriko was only acting like that because she wanted to be Noriko. Like she was jealous of her.”

“Like you were?”

“Shut up! Like I was saying… Noriko was a complete 180 from Nono. Nono has a fragile mindset for whatever reason so being someone she wasn't broke her. So she went crazy.”

“You think Nono went insane.”

“Yep.”

There was some silence before Airi nodded. “I think you're right, Yuka. But I'm going to go find an exorcist anyway. Better safe than sorry.”

“Do as you please.” Yuka told her. “I really don't care.”

Airi cut her eyes at Yuka before sniffing the air. “Is that you?”

“It might be.” Yuka answered, trying to hide her embarrassment.

“Have you ever considered wearing perfume?”

*****

That night, Airi was laying on her bed and staring at the ceiling. Normally she didn't have anxiety over hosting her cooking show, but it was different this time. She couldn't help thinking about Nono and how she got her head severed because she was fighting Shizuku over Noriko's hair barrette. That wasn't weird.

The weird part was how Nono swore Noriko's hair barrette was hers. Combine that with Nono's sudden transformation into Noriko and that left Airi believing that Nono had gotten possessed. Yuka be damned.

_ As soon as the shoot ends tomorrow, I'm going to go a church and see about getting an exorcism. I can't die yet. I'm too young _ , Airi thought as she continued to stare at the ceiling.

She stared until she felt the need to go to the bathroom. Logically, the next step was to get up and go to the bathroom. However…

Airi tried sitting up, but as soon as she did, gravity pushed it back down. Her body felt heavy, like she had swam 50 laps in an Olympic sized pool. She tried moving her legs and her arms, but they seemed to be afflicted with the same paralysis. The only thing she could move was her face.

“Help…” Airi called out. Even though she was the only person in the apartment, it was all she could do. “Help!”

“Calling for help?” 

Airi, who had been staring at the ceiling this entire time, slowly turned to the left, where the voice was coming from. And once she saw who it was, she screamed.

“Noriko!!!” Airi yelled. “I'm so sorry, so sorry! I didn't mean to…”

“Be quiet.” Noriko told her. Then she smiled, “I have something for you.”

“Oh that's great. Real great.” Airi laughed nervously. “Will it help me be able to move again? Or is it a donut? You know you've always loved donuts…”

Noriko didn't say anything as she crawled on top of Airi's body. 

“Hey, what are you…”

Airi's question finished with a scream as Noriko gouged Airi's left eye out with her thumb. Airi ignored the pain from her left eye and summoned enough strength to throw Noriko off of her. Noriko fell onto the floor, and Airi sighed of relief. Was it over? Was this haunting over?

Noriko's hand appeared from the side of the bed, and she stood back up, holding a bucket. Hot steam was flowing from the top, and Airi could hear the water boiling from inside.

“Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. I didn't mean to drench you that one time. That was all Yuka's fault. Yes… all her fault! Go attack her!”

There was silence as Noriko just stared at Airi, with no emotion in her eyes or face. Then she smirked.

“Gotcha bitch!” she exclaimed, throwing the boiling hot water onto Airi, who screamed as her body convulsed as it got drenched by the 400 degree water. She could feel her skin burning off, and finally used all the strength she could to roll off of the bed and on the floor…

Only to find that she was no longer soaking wet, or covered in burns. Her left eye was intact. Feeling relieved, yet panicked, Airi brought her knees to her chest and began to cry as she tried to get her breath under control.

*****

A few hours later, in an photo studio within Cinderella Productions, Yuka and Kanako were watching as Yukari shot her photos for Vogue. The two girls were watching as Yukari spun around in the hottest summer fashions.

“Get this.” Yuka nudged Kanako, who seemed to be mesmerized by Yukari’s new found confidence.

“What is it?” Kanako asked.

“Airi thinks that Nono was possessed by Noriko.” Yuka giggled. “What an idiot.”

“I never once got the impression that Nono was possessed. I just think she lightened up because she was jealous of Noriko…”

“Exactly. I said the same thing. But Airi swore that Nono fought Shizuku because Nono said that Noriko's barrette was hers.”

“Can you really trust Shizuku to tell the truth?” Kanako asked. “After all, she  _ was _ Noriko's best friend.”

Yuka nodded. “I think… I think you're onto something here.”

Meanwhile, Yukari continued to dance around the set, a huge smile on her face. She was really having the time of her life, dancing and posing. Who would've thought that Yukari would've enjoyed modeling this much? Who would've thought that other people would've enjoyed Yukari's modeling so much? Everytime she appeared on a magazine, it sold like crazy. 

That fact alone blew Yukari away, because all her life she believed that she would always be in the shadow of someone else. At home, that was her older sister, or the other flute players. Here at the agency, it was Yuka. But not anymore.

“Perfect, perfect!” The photographer clapped. “We've got enough shots in this outfit. Go change into the second one.”

“Got it!” Yukari sang, skipping back to her dressing room. She shimmied out of her dress and was about to put on a striped shirt and high waisted jean shorts combo when she looked up into the mirror. 

“Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?” Yukari asked, giggling as she blew a kiss to her reflection.

“The one who is not a snake.” 

Yukari looked up into the mirror and screamed as she saw Noriko in the reflection.

“What are you talking about? Snake? Snake? How am I a snake?” Yukari demanded, her voice shaking.

“Are you serious?” Noriko asked. “Maybe you should look at your character as much as you look at your face.”

“Can ghosts even see their faces?” Yukari asked. “Um… what happened to your face? Didn't Yuka destroy it?”

“And she wouldn't have done that if you told her where I was.” Noriko took a step towards Yukari, grabbing her by her hair. “You know, out of that entire group, I trusted you the most. You seemed to be willing to be friends with me, but would throw it all away just because you wanted to please Yuka. How weak.”

“Let go of me, Noriko! Let go of me before I call Yuka in here and she…”

“She'll what? You can't kill a dead girl. But what you can do is scar one that's alive.” Noriko then produced a bottle that was very familiar to Yukari… it was the same bottle of nitric acid that Yuka had in her bathroom.

“Noriko, no!” Yukari screamed, but it was too later. Noriko knocked the cap off of the bottle of acid, and threw it onto Yukari. Yukari yelled as the corrosive liquid burned through her skin and her hair. It went up her nose and through her mouth, and into her eyes. The feeling was too much to bear.

“Help! Help me! I need to go to the hospital!” Yukari yelled as she ran out onto the set, in only her underwear and bra.

Yuka started laughing at this, but to the photographer, this was no laughing matter.

“What are you talking about? You look perfectly fine! Did something happen?”

“Noriko… acid… me… burns…” Yukari panted as she tried to get her breath back.

“Noriko?” The photographer asked. “Isn't that the dead girl? Anyway, go back and put your clothes on. This is a summer shoot, not an underwear one. Geez…”

Yukari walked back to the dressing room, feeling embarrassed as she realized that there was no acid attack on her. How could she hallucinate such a thing?

*****

At the same time as Yukari's shoot, Airi found herself standing in an amusement park. She was not here to have fun, but rather, on business. Sometimes that business was fun, like it would've been today, but Airi wasn't feeling it. 

After that nightmare, Airi couldn't bring herself to go back to sleep, let alone get back in the bed. She sat on the floor biting her nails down until the sun came up.

It was very unnerving to see your bloody cuticles in the first instance of daylight. Either way, Airi got dressed and headed to the studio. It was then she found out that she was to go to an amusement park and interview a new food stand that had opened there, right in front of a popular roller coaster. The producers of the show cut a deal to have the operators test the roller coaster in the background, in a way to make the park look busy, as it was off season.

And what did this food stand sell? Donuts.

Despite the happy expression on her face, Airi felt sick to her stomach as she got in front of the camera. Unlike most food interview shows, this was shot live, so Airi had to act as cheerful as possible. There would be no retakes.

“And we're live! In five… four… three…” the cameraman started the countdown and then the red light on the camera came on. It was go time.

“Hello everybody!” Airi greeted. “My name is Airi Totoki and welcome to Airi's Food Tour! If this is your first time tuning in, this is a show where I go to interesting food establishments and interview the owners! Today, I've decided to come to Rocket Land to interview a new donut stand called Dreamland Donuts.” Airi then motioned to the owner, who was a friendly looking middle aged man.

“This here is the owner! Please tell us about yourself!”

The owner smiled. “Hello viewers! My name is Takeru Shiina and I'm the owner of this fine establishment. I decided to open this stand because my daughter loves donuts and I wanted to make her happy. I wanted to be a dad she could be proud of!”

Airi knew what she was supposed to do next - she was supposed to ask him about the stuff on the menu, but… something that he said deeply disturbed her.

“What did you say your last name was?” Airi asked shakily.

“Shiina.” Takeru answered.

“And your daughter… is her name Noriko? Tell her to leave me the fuck alone!! I didn't get no sleep because of her… she already ruined my life before, and even now, she's ruining it! Tell her to stop!” Airi screamed out. By this time she had grabbed on to Takeru, yelling at him. She didn't give a fuck that she was on live TV. She had to get this out. She didn't care if her actions cost her the gig or her career. She  _ had _ to get this out!

“My daughter is named Megumi!” Takeru yelled at her. “I thought this was supposed to be a show where you interviewed me about my food, not my personal life! And how dare you slander my daughter? You probably don't even know her! Idols these days…”

“You're lying! You have to be lying! You're from Osaka, right? Right?”

“Tokyo.” Takeru then turned to the cameramen. “You know what? I didn't sign on to this. The interview is over!”

He angrily stomped off of the set, and three members of the crew ran after him, begging for him to come back. The lone cameraman mouthed to her, “The show must go on.”

Airi nodded, and then looked straight into the camera. “Well that was awkward right?” She giggled at this, thinking of what to say next.

But nothing was as awkward as what happened next - millions of fans witnessing the cars from the roller coaster running off of the tracks, crushing Airi under a ton of metal. While the viewers weren't spared from this gruesome sight, they  _ were _ spared from feeling what Airi felt - her bones being crushed like dry leaves on a fall day. Maybe the delusional fan thought she'd survive after she managed to crawl out from under the car, but that ended as soon as she collapsed back onto the ground. The cameraman, who had been in shock the entire time, immediately cut to commercial.

However, he wasn't fast enough, allowing those fans that still were gutsy enough to keep watching to hear Airi's last words…

“Noriko… I'm sorry… Noriko…”


	6. Chapter VI - The Clown Comes Back to Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well... shit

**_Chapter VI - The Clown Comes Back to Bite_ **

After Yukari’s photo shoot had finished up, Yukari and Kanako were walking in silence to the front of the agency. They  _ were _ supposed to hang out with Yuka this afternoon, but after Yukari’s episode at the photoshoot, and subsequently being mocked by Yuka, Yukari wasn’t in the mood to do anything with her. Luckily, Yuka let them go on without her. The two were in silence because neither girl knew what to say. While Yukari was still embarrassed, Kanako wasn’t sure what to say. How do you bring up such a thing in conversation?

While those two were silent, the duo walking in front of them wasn’t silent all. Natsuki Kimura and Riina Tada had been talking excitedly about Natsuki teaching Riina how to play guitar when their conversation suddenly took a dark turn.

“Did you see what happened to Airi? I can’t believe she died live on television! That’s exactly how I want to go out, like a true rockstar!”

“Like a true  _ what _ ? Riina, seriously?”

“Whatever, whatever. I do think that my last words will definitely be cooler.” Riina laughed, then she said mockingly, “Noriko, I’m sorry, Noriko… what do you think, Natsuki?”

“I think that you should shut up.”

Yukari and Kanako gave a knowing glance to each other. This was the first they had heard of this news, and naturally, both girls wanted to get the details.

“Hey!” Kanako yelled out, causing both Riina and Natsuki to turn around and stare at her. “What are you talking about? What happened to Airi?”

“You didn’t hear? It’s only the hottest topic of the day.” Riina grinned, walking over to Yukari and Kanako. She took her phone out and scrolled a bit before finding the video. “Take a look.”

In the video, Airi had started her interview normally. Then came the part where she learned the owner’s name, and she confronted him, screaming and raving how he needed to tell Noriko to leave her alone, and how she ruined her life. The man then stomped off the set, Airi asked the audience if that was awkward, and five seconds later she was crushed by a car that had veered off of the tracks. Airi managed to crawl out from under the car, before apologizing to Noriko. After that, she died.

“Wicked cool, right?” Riina asked, laughing as Kanako and Yukari stared wide-eyed at the phone. Natsuki snatched it out of Riina’s hands.

“Seriously, Riina? Our labelmate dies and you show the video to people like it’s some hot new meme? Do you seriously find that funny?”

“You have an odd sense of humor.” Kanako said shakily.

“Well, I don’t care.” Riina shrugged. “Either you hang or you don’t. And we can’t hang.”

“Riina, I can assure you that  _ nobody _ wants to hang with you.” Natsuki told her as she gave the younger girl her phone back.

“That video.” Yukari spoke up. “Noriko was in that video.”

“Excuse me?” Riina asked. “Why would Noriko be in the video? She’s dead.”

“She’s not dead! She’s very much alive and well… she was in that video!”

“Yukari, could you please calm down? Did you eat today? This is the second time you claimed to have seen Noriko when she is dead…” Kanako said, grabbing Yukari’s hand in an attempt to calm her down. It didn’t work, and Yukari attempted to snatch it out of Riina’s hand, but the phone hit the ground. The four girls stared wordlessly at the shattered screen.

“Didn’t your mom ever teach you to keep your hands to yourself?” Riina yelled at Yukari. “Look at what you did! Now I have to get that replaced!”

“Noriko was there… I swear she was!”

Riina narrowed her eyes at Yukari, who was on the brink of flying into hysterics. “You know what I’m starting to think…? That you and Airi killed Noriko.”

Both Yukari and Kanako tensed up for a bit, as neither knew what to say. Thankfully, there was Natsuki, who slapped the back of Riina’s head.    
“Are you serious?” Natsuki asked. “It’s not only terrible to accuse someone of that, but it’s also hella disrespectful to Noriko.”

“I mean, why else would Airi be apologizing to Noriko? And why would Yukari here claim to see her?”

“Hm… well, it was rumored that Airi wasn’t very nice to Noriko…”

“But what still doesn’t explain Yukari.” Riina stared intensely at Yukari. “Is there something that you want to tell us? If you confess now… well, they say the truth will set you free…”

“Riina, that's enough.” Kanako spoke up. “Yukari would never kill anyone.”

“That's what you think.” Riina grinned. “It's always the quiet ones!”

“You know what…?” Natsuki started.

“Excuse us. We'll be going now.” Kanako grabbed Yukari by her wrist and lead her out of the agency. The two walked down the street in silence until Kanako finally spoke up.

“Did you really see Noriko in that video?” 

“Yes. Do you think I was lying? Do you? Do you?” Yukari got in front of Kanako, looking panicked. She was as white as a sheet and was breaking out in a light sweat.

Of course, Kanako didn't see Noriko in the video, but she decided to humor Yukari, on the off chance that it did cause her to calm down.

“No. What was Noriko doing in the video?”

“After Airi lost consciousness, Noriko walked out of that donut shop, eating a donut. Then she smirked at me, and mouthed, 'you’re next’. She's going to kill us all!”

“Come on Yukari. You can't believe that Noriko had something to do with what happened to Airi and Nono… those were freak accidents.”

“I don't think so. You saw how we handled Noriko's… passing. I'd want revenge. And so would you.”

“But can a girl really come back from the dead?” Kanako asked. 

“I believe so. Ugh… I'm so nervous. I think I'm going to go over Yuka's apartment and spend the night there! I don't think I'll be able to sleep alone with her watching me.”

“Yukari, Yuka will not take you seriously if you tell her that you're sleeping over because you're trying to outrun a ghost. You know this.”

“You're right. I do know this. But do you seriously think that I'll tell her the truth?”

*****

When Yukari called Yuka, asking her if she could spend the night, Yuka had said yes. Not because she liked Yukari or anything, but because she was bored and needed entertainment. If that meant bullying Yukari around, then so be it.

Yukari had said she'd arrive around 8 pm. That coincidentally overlapped with Yuka's bath time so she said she'd leave the door open so that Yukari could come in. Yukari said that was okay. 

Of course she did.

Yuka was laying in the bathtub, thinking to herself. After she left Kanako and Yukari earlier, Yuka had went to a cafe where she felt the overwhelmingly strong urge to buy a donut. After eating it, the person at the next table over said something to their partner.

“Do you smell that? It smells like something is dying.”

“Right…” the girl's companion nodded. “And it just got stronger, because I didn't smell it a second ago.”

Yuka immediately realized the smell was her and fled to the nearest luxury department store. She was buying luxury liquid soap when she heard two boys talking about Airi's death. From the way they described it, it seemed like a freak accident.

Not that Yuka gave a fuck. Airi was annoying anyway.

In the present, Yuka was laying under a thick blanket of bubbles that smelled like lavender. She was very relieved to find that she was able to scrub most of the scent away, although Yuka wondered how long it would take before the smell came back. Feeling paranoid, she grabbed her loofah and began scrubbing her arm aggressively. She kept at it until some the skin on the lower part of her arm came off, revealing a bloody muscle.

“Yikes! Hospital… hospital…” Yuka reached for a nearby towel with her non injured arm and then she saw that some of the skin had eroded on it too.

“Shit!” Feeling concerned by what what had happened to her arms, Yuka cleared the bubbles and stared down at her legs, where some of the skin had eroded also.

_ Is this even possible? _ Yuka asked herself. She had to get out of the tub. The exposed skin was starting to sting because of the water, which was starting to redden from the blood.

Yuka attempted to grab the towel again, but just as she did, someone snatched it from her.

“Were you trying to wash me away?”

Noriko was standing there, holding the towel and smiling innocently. Yuka didn't say anything.

“You can't wash me away, Yuka. I'm always here with you. I'm inside of you. So we'll never be separated.” Noriko put her index finger into the tub.

“We'll always be together…” she said, pulling her hand out of the water. The water immediately reddened, and the density and smell changed. Yuka looked down to see that she was now bathing in blood.

The girl let out an ear splitting scream as she realized her predicament. Noriko didn't care though, and shoved Yuka's head under the water, trying to drown her.

*****

Yuka woke up to find that not only she had fallen asleep in the tub but had also had slipped under the water and inhaled it. That woke her up, and Yuka immediately checked her body. She was very relieved to see that all the erosions were gone and her skin was back to normal, as well as the bathwater. 

It was just a nightmare.

Yuka let the water out of the tub, wrapped herself into a towel and left the bathroom. From the bathroom door, Yuka could see the living room. Yukari was sitting on the couch, biting her nails, and watching a video on her phone.

The video of Airi's death.

“Hey Yukari.” Yuka called out.

There was no response. Yuka went into her room, deciding to put clothes on first before yelling at Yukari for ignoring her. She changed into basic clothes to sleep in and then opened her bedroom door for see Yukari standing there, as if she were waiting.

“What the hell are you doing so close to my door?” Yuka demanded. “Did your mother drop you on your head? Give me my personal space, damn.”

Yuka's insults were lost on Yukari. “I need to kill you.”

“What?”

“I need to kill you!” Yukari repeated, this time screeching. She pulled a long floor lamp out of it's outlet and swung it at Yuka, like she was trying to crack her skull.

Yuka successfully blocked it, but that didn't deter Yukari, who kept at it. Yuka shoved Yukari into the wall, so she dropped the lamp on the ground. Yuka took this opportunity to go to the kitchen, and Yukari charged after her.

“You bitch! You bitch! You may have killed Nono and Airi but you won't kill me! Not if I kill you first, Noriko!”

“Yukari, I'm Yuka! Noriko is dead!”

“No! Noriko is alive, and she's standing right in front of me! You won't be able to fool me with your lies, Noriko!”

“I said my name is Yuka!” Yuka repeated, discreetly opening the knife drawer. She grabbed the sharpest knife in the drawer, however, she kept it hidden from Yukari's sight.

“You are a liar! A liar! However, you won't be one for long.” Yukari reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the darts that Yuka kept for her board. She then threw one with so much precision that if Yuka hadn't moved out of the way to dodge it, she probably would have been injured. 

Yukari, frustrated with this turn of events, ran into the kitchen and shoved Yuka into the sink, seemingly unaware that Yuka was holding a sharp knife.

“I'm going to get you for everything you've done.” Yukari told her. “Everything!”

She threw her hands around Yuka's neck, squeezing it as hard she she could. Yuka gasped for air, feeling like she was drowning. Yukari was clearly trying to strangle her, but what was more surprising was the sudden amount of physical strength that Yukari had. Out of the two of them, Yukari had always been the weaker one.

“How does it feel to finally get what you deserve?” Yukari asked. “Tell me!”

“Mmm… I… I…” Yuka could barely talk and she felt like if she didn't do anything, she'd probably die. Dying at the hands of a weak bitch? How embarrassing.

Yuka held up the knife and stabbed Yukari in the eye.

“Uaaaaaaugh!!!” Yukari cried out, covering her injured eye with her hand. As she writhed on the floor, acting like a fish that had been removed from water, Yuka gingerly stepped out of the kitchen and grabbed her cellphone. She was going to make it so that she'd never have to deal with Yukari again.

“119, what's your emergency?” the dispatcher asked over the phone.

“Hello? Police?” Yuka made herself sound as distraught as possible, even adding tears to make it more realistic.

“We're here. What is your emergency?” the dispatcher repeated.

“My friend tried to kill herself! She stabbed herself in the eye and I don't know what to do!”

“Hang on and make sure your friend stays alive. The police will be there shortly.”

Yuka hung up the phone. Make sure Yukari stays alive? The girl tried to kill her! Yuka wouldn't even care if Yukari actually died. She had gotten everything she needed from her - a faithful sidekick. A glorified flunky, disguised as a friendship.

Yukari was a fool.

And now the fool was curled up on the kitchen floor, sobbing uncontrollably while covering up her bloody eye.

“Yuka… Yuka…” she called out.

Yuka ignored her and walked into the living room. She threw herself on the couch and turned on the TV. A movie was on.

*****

“Chieri, do you believe in ghosts?”

“Why do you ask…?”

After Yuka successfully gotten Yukari “out of her life”, she had decided to call Kanako and complain about how Yukari had gone insane. 

“She stabbed herself in the eye.” Yuka had told her.

Kanako excused herself from the call and decided to distract herself by doing a puzzle with her roommate Chieri. Chieri was from a rich family so instead of her living in the company provided dorm, her parents got her an apartment near the agency. Chieri had asked Kanako to join her because she enjoyed Kanako's company  _ that  _ much.

Of course, Kanako couldn't refuse.

Tonight, the girls were putting together a one thousand piece puzzle that was made up of balls of yarn. They were about 25% done.

“I used to think ghosts weren't real, but… I don't know. Recently, I've started to open up my mind.”

Chieri shivered. “Ghosts being real makes me uncomfortable. Actually, I find the whole concept unsettling.”

“Why?”

“Just talking about it gives me chills. However, I'll tell you anyway. If I died, I'd want to pass on to the afterlife easily. However, ghosts can't. It's like they're stuck here, because they can't move on. They can't…”

“Why not?” Kanako questioned.

“They either don't want to or they have unfinished business.”

“Unfinished business.” Kanako repeated. The chills were starting to set in. She began to hug herself.

“Yes. Like if they were murdered, or wronged by someone, they might want to hang around to make everything right. You'd call it getting revenge, but I believe they're making things right.”

“Making things right…”

“Correct.” Chieri then made eye contact with Kanako. “Whoever killed Noriko should watch their backs. I'm not violent at all… but if I went out the way that Noriko did…”

“You know what? I just remembered I have a hair appointment first thing tomorrow morning. I need to get some sleep. Good night, Chieri.”

“Good night.”

Kanako quickly disappeared into her bedroom, locking her door behind her. She began to think. Did Chieri know? No… there was no way. But it surely seemed like it, with how the usually shy and anxious Chieri made eye contact with Kanako while vocalizing her thoughts on Noriko.

Chieri rarely made eye contact with others.

“Running away?”

Kanako, who had been staring at the floor, slowly looked up to see that Noriko was on her bed, sitting pretzel style, and bouncing up and down excitedly.

Well, she was only thirteen.

“Um… Noriko?” Kanako questioned.

“You guessed it.” Noriko kept at it, still bouncing on the bed.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in heaven or something?”

Noriko stopped bouncing on the bed and put her legs on the floor. She walked over to Kanako, who immediately slapped her.

_ She felt her face. _

“Why would you do such a thing?” Noriko sobbed. “Do you have any idea how much that hurt? You're so mean!”

“Accept your death so that you can move on.” Kanako advised her. “Please. For our sake.”

Noriko ignored Kanako. “When you ate me, did I taste like donuts?”

Kanako could only answer by staring at Noriko.

“I think that you'd taste sweet. I want to try. Cannibalism is okay, right? Let me try.”

“No, you psycho!” Kanako held up her hands, to push Noriko away. That turned out to be a huge mistake. Noriko bit Kanako's hand, and Kanako was, surprisingly, relieved. She didn't feel anything!

Until there was an overwhelmingly strong stinging feeling in her hand. Noriko spat something on the ground, and Kanako looked down to see what it was.

Her fingernails.

Kanako looked down at her hand, to see that all of her fingernails had been bitten off. Blood gushed from where they used to be, stinging because her nails had been ripped off by Noriko's teeth.

“You taste like crap!” Noriko complained. “With how you guys cut me up, I thought humans tasted good!”

Kanako screamed and ran out of her room, going to find the first aid kit. The two girls kept it in the kitchen, because Chieri would accidentally cut herself while chopping vegetables.

Kanako found the kit, and was about to open it up when Chieri walked into the room.

“Kanako, are you okay? I heard you scream and I…” Chieri finished her sentence by letting out an ear shattering scream.

“What's the…” Kanako began to ask. She also ended her question with a scream.

All of her fingernails were gone.

****

“Why did you call me here so early in the morning?” Yuka asked. She hadn't really slept as much as she needed to, because she had to oversee Yukari being taken to the hospital, and then being questioned by the police and the doctors, who wanted to know if and why Yukari was suicidal. Yuka made something up - that Yukari had did it to escape from the pressures of her newfound fame.

“Yukari was always meant to be in the background.” she had said.

“I'll wait until Yukari gets here.” Kanako said.

“You'll be waiting for a while. I didn't tell you this last night, but I got her committed.”

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“Why not? She stabbed herself. She kept claiming she saw Noriko. Noriko is dead. If that's not someone who's crazy I don't know what is.”

“Yuka, I hate to break it to you, but Yukari isn't crazy.” Kanako said gravely. “There's some truth in what she's saying. Noriko is here.”

“What's your proof?” Yuka challenged.

“This is my proof.” Kanako held up one of her injured hands and undid one of the bandages. Yuka flinched once she saw what used to be a fingernail.

“Right before this happened, Noriko paid a visit to me. She then bit my fingernails off because she wanted to know what humans taste like.”

“That's gross.” Yuka said, moving her eyes up to the ceiling.

“Do I need to remind you of what we did?” Kanako asked through her teeth.

“I  _ know _ what we did. It's still gross. But I have my solo career and Noriko is dead and gone.”

“Is she really dead and gone? Have you ever seen Noriko since then? Because Yukari did, Nono thought she  _ was _ Noriko, and Airi… I get the feeling…”

“Now that I think about it, I fell asleep in the tub and had a nightmare that Noriko was about to drown me in blood. It was very unsettling.”

“Exactly. I need to hear more witness accounts. Do you know what hospital she's staying in?”

“Yes. I'll lead the way.”

*****

“What do you mean, I can't see her?!” Yuka roared out at the receptionist. “Yukari and I are like sisters! She'd be nowhere without me!”

The receptionist sighed. “I'm sorry. But your relationship does not change the fact that you can't see her.”

“Do you know who I am?!” Yuka shouted. “I could put this entire place out of business if I wanted to!”

“Be my guest.” The receptionist told her.

“Fuck you!” Yuka took off one of her bracelets and threw it at the receptionist, who seemed in awe by the piece of jewelry. She stormed off, in a fit of anger.

“I'm sorry.” Kanako apologized to the receptionist. She took the bracelet back and ran after Yuka, who was now in the waiting room.

“What are we going to do? The one time I actually want to talk to Yukari, I can't! All because someone doesn't know her place…”

“You?” Kanako asked. “You seriously have no respect. That lady was only doing her job, Yuka.”

“That lady was only doing her job, Yuka.” Yuka said mockingly. “Fuck her job. She should know who I am and do as I say. I'm Yuka Nakano! I'm not your run of the mill idol.”

_ Yes you are _ , Kanako wanted to say, but instead, she just sighed. “Yuka, we should try again during actual visiting hours.”

“No. I want to see Yukari, and I want to see her  _ now _ !”

Kanako just nodded in silence. She could feel the contempt of the other people in the waiting room. They were probably watching, thinking, 'what a spoiled girl’.

And they would be absolutely right.

“Excuse me, but did you say you were here to see Yukari Mizumoto?” A nurse had approached them. 

“Yes.” Kanako answered. “Can you help us see her?”

The nurse sighed. “I would if I could, but you can't really do much with a dead girl. She killed herself sometime between last night and this morning.”


	7. Chapter VII - Somewhere Over the Rainbow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're getting close to the end...

**_Chapter VII - Somewhere Over the Rainbow_ **

“She did  _ what _ ?” Kanako repeated. This had to be a dream, albeit a very bad one. 

“We found her hanging from the window this morning. Somehow, she had managed to remove the curtain, and you can guess what happened next.”

“How unfortunate.” Yuka quipped.

Both Kanako and the nurse ignored her.

“Can I ask what happened?”

The nurse nodded. “Of course. You need closure. I walked into the room to give her breakfast and she wasn't in the bed. I was going to call security to make sure that she hadn't escaped, because that  _ has _ happened before. However, I looked towards the window, because it was bright. Of course it was, Yukari tore the curtain down to do… what she did.”

Kanako shivered, but she had to keep going with her questions. If she didn't do that, she'd never get answers… because Yuka had gotten bored by the exchange and had walked over to the window, staring outside and bouncing on her feet, looking happy for some reason. Kanako couldn't believe this.

“Is she really ‘like sisters’ with Yukari?” the nurse asked.

“I'll let her actions answer that question.” Kanako answered, then she caught notice of the nurse's name tag. “Ms. Azumi… did Yukari do or say anything concerning before doing that?”

“Not really. But I'll tell you what happened once she got here.” Azumi sighed. “The poor girl was in so much pain, that she could barely talk. After we got the pain down, Yukari was very confused. She said that the last thing she remembered was talking to you… then she woke up on the kitchen in her friend's apartment.”

“That 'friend’ is Yuka.” Kanako informed the nurse. “But that's irrelevant. As you were saying…?”

“Right. Yukari had no recollection of her attempt. This is quite common if you ingest certain substances. However… we tested her urine and it came up completely clean. Very strange.”

“Yes… very strange.”

“What's even stranger though was the blood on the mirror.”

“The what?”

“Before Yukari died, she seemed to have drawn enough blood to write something on the mirror.”

“What did she write?” Kanako asked.

“I'll show you.”

Azumi lead Kanako to a room on the floor. The room had been cleared out, and there was no sign of Yukari ever being in this room.

“We confiscated her belongings and her parents are coming down from Aoyama to collect them.” Azumi explained. “Now look here.”

She opened up the bathroom door, turned on the light, and pointed at the mirror.

I AM NOT WEAK, it read, in all capital letters. Kanako gasped. 

“You have to wonder why she wrote that.” Azumi said. “But you would know better than me… come on, I'll lead you out.”

The two walked back out into the waiting room.

“Thank you so much for answering my questions.” Kanako smiled at her. “I really appreciate it.”

“Of course. Have a pleasant day.”

“You too.”

Azumi left, and Yuka walked over.

“So you're out here being buddy buddy with nurses?”

“You trap more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. Because I was nice, she told me some stuff about Yukari that she probably wouldn't have told you.”

“Oh yeah? What did she tell you?”

“That Yukari had no recollection of hurting herself. She was confused. I have a feeling that Noriko was possessing her… just like she did with Nono.”

Yuka nodded. “You know, I have a confession.”

“And what's that?”

“Yukari didn't stab herself in the eye. I did.”

“Yuka. Yuka. Why would you do that? What the fuck? What would you have done if she died? Ate her?”

“I was defending myself! She was going to kill me because she thought I was Noriko. If I didn't do that, she would've strangled me to death.”

“And now thanks to you, Yukari is dead. Good going.”

“Whatever. While you were playing nice with the nurse, I found something interesting.” Yuka walked over to one of the tables and picked up a magazine that was meant for young teens. Yukari was on the cover.

“Her fans will be so devastated.”

“Well at least they have this shoot to remember her by.” Yuka opened the magazine and flipped through it, not stopping until she found Yukari's shoot. However, something about it had caused Yuka to drop the magazine.

Kanako picked it up and stared at the pictures. She could feel her throat tightening from anxiety. There was no way… no way…

“You see that too, right?” Yuka asked in a low voice.

“Yes… now do you believe me?”

“We need to talk to Shizuku. That bitch cursed us.” Yuka snatched the magazine from Kanako and placed it on the couch, leaving it wide open to the pages where Noriko was dancing around in cute clothes.

*****

“Do you really think that Shizuku would do such a thing?” Kanako demanded. “She's nice.”

“You say she's nice, but you know what? She was Noriko's only friend. She probably hexed us to get revenge for her.” Yuka said, then she turned to the door. “Hey Shizuku!” she shouted. “Open the fucking door! We know you're in there!”

Kanako blushed out of embarrassment. Here they were, in one of the company dorms. They were standing outside of Shizuku's door, and Yuka was yelling and beating on the door like she was a madwoman! Kanako found this totally embarrassing!

“Yuka! Can you not? Maybe Shizuku is not in right now. Maybe she's…”

The door opened, and Shizuku stood there, looking extremely annoyed.

“Don't you ever make me wait like that again!” Yuka yelled at her. “I know you heard me knocking and yelling. Your brain may be thick but the walls here are not!”

“Didn't your parents teach you manners before they passed away?” Shizuku snapped, and that caused Yuka to shut up for once.

“I'm sorry, Shizuku. We just wanted to come over to ask you something, and Yuka got a little… passionate.” Kanako said.

“I see. Well you picked the right time to come over. I'm going to Iwate tomorrow.”

“That's cool. Are you going to visit your family's farm?”

Shizuku shook her head. “That's the thing. I'm going to Iwate and not coming back.”

“What?”

“I terminated my contract.”

“Why?”

“Because I couldn't do it. I can't be an idol anymore. I've never actually coped with Noriko's death, and after talking it through with my parents, Noriko's mother, Chihiro and the producer, I've agreed to put my well being first and go home.”

“But wasn't this your dream…” Kanako asked. For some reason, it really upset her to hear this.

“Yes. You're right. But I'm young, and this dream will always be here. Just look at Mizuki and Kaede. The producer even said I could come back when I feel better. I'm not giving up. I'm just putting myself first.”

“I can understand that. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.”

“You too. And Yuka?”

“What?”

“I hope you're able to fix your attitude one day. It will really do you in.”

“And what do you mean by that?” Yuka challenged. “Are you implying that I'm going to die? That someone is going to murder me?”

“Die? Murder? Oh heavens, no.” Shizuku shook her head. “Sure, I'm mad at you for how badly you treated me and Noriko… but I would never wish that on you. I think that … despite that, you're a good person. I don't know what happened to you to make you like this, but you're just in pain. I wish you luck with your solo career.”

“Whatever. Have fun milking cows for the rest of your life. Kanako, I'll be outside.”

Neither Kanako or Shizuku addressed Yuka as she left. Once she was gone, Kanako decided to change the subject.

“Do you think Noriko has any ill will towards us?”

“Honestly, a little bit. Who wouldn't? But maybe she'd let that go.”

“Yeah. I hope so.” Kanako smiled at Shizuku. “When the election ends, I want to visit your farm. Is that possible?”

“Of course it is. I'll welcome you!” Shizuku smiled. “Thank you for coming by, Kanako. I hope I can see you soon.”

“Likewise. Good bye, Shizuku. Good luck.”

As soon as Kanako stepped outside, she was greeted by Yuka, who immediately got into her face.

“Did that honky tonk girl tell you anything important?”

“I don't think she has anything to do with… you know.” Kanako sighed. “Back to square one, I guess.”

“Not exactly. I have an idea.”

“What is it?”

“Just follow me.”

*****

Kanako was very surprised to see that Yuka had lead her back into the dorm. What was she doing? Was she about to confront Shizuku again? Luckily, Kanako's anxiety subsided as she realized that Yuka lead her to a different floor. They went down the hall, and Yuka knocked on the door.

Koume answered.

“Yuka, Kanako? You're here?”

“Hi Koume.” Yuka greeted. “I want you to share your knowledge of the occult with us.”

The younger girl nodded. “I'll be glad. Come in.”

Koume lead Kanako and Yuka into the dorm room, with Kanako wondering why she didn't think of this first. After all, Koume  _ did _ supply Nono with the knowledge regarding the cannibalism. She would definitely know about ghosts.

“So what do you want to know?” Koume asked as she jumped on her bed.

Kanako and Yuka both looked at each other, as if they were trying to figure out who should speak first. Kanako decided to speak first, because the last thing she wanted was for Yuka to bully the 13 year old girl and they'd be asked to leave.

“We want to know about the dead. Particularly, ghosts.” 

“Ghosts.” Koume repeated. “What do you want to know about them?”

“We want to know…”

“We're being haunted by a ghost.” Yuka interrupted. “How do we stop it? What do we need to do?”

Koume appeared to be thinking. “My  _ friend _ tells me that it's Noriko. Is she right?”

“Who's your friend?” Kanako demanded. “Who? Who is it?”

Koume sighed. “Her name is Itsuki Manabe. She's passed on years ago… she used to live in this building when it was an apartment. Then she died under mysterious circumstances - she isn't comfortable enough to tell me.”

“Oh… so a ghost.” Yuka laughed. “You're so silly Koume! I thought your friend is real.”

“How can you say that you're being haunted yet deny the existence of ghosts. Ghosts are valid, Yuka.”

“Okay, okay. Ghosts are real. How much does Itsuki know? Can she get into contact with Noriko?” Kanako asked.

“I will need to ask her.” Koume jumped off the bed and grabbed a lighter that was on her nightstand.

“Please. We really appreciate it.”

“We do.” Yuka agreed.

“I'm glad. Now get out of here.”

“Excuse me?!” 

“It's nothing against you, but if I want to summon Itsuki, I need to be the only human in the room. Something bad happened to her when she was alive, and so she's very distrustful of humans.”

“I see.” Kanako nodded. 

“You guys can sit in the living room. I will call you back in when Itsuki is finished.”

“Got it. Yuka, let's go sit. We'll wait as long as we need to.”

The two girls went into the living room and sat there, thinking nervously. Why wouldn't they be nervous? This situation was literally life or death.

“Hey.” Yuka called out.

“What is it?”

“You know what this feels like?”

“What?”

“Waiting for the results of your audition.”

“You're right.”

The girls were silent for what felt like hours. Finally, Koume opened the door and smiled at them. 

“It's okay. Itsuki is gone now, so you can come back inside.”

Kanako and Yuka exchanged a look and headed back into Koume's room, which now smelled like candles.

“Ask away.” Koume told them.

“What did Itsuki tell you about Noriko?” Kanako asked.

“Her ghost is still lurking.” Koume confirmed. “Itsuki says she's very cheerful and feels bad about Shizuku leaving the company.”

“Did she say anything important? We don't care about Shizuku.”

Koume cut her eyes at Yuka. “Define important.”

“Anything having to do with us! Are you stupid?”

“Geez.” Koume rolled her eyes. “Itsuki said that Noriko won't feel at peace until she gets an apology. She is hurt by how you guys treated her. Especially you, Yuka.”

“Oh please.”

“How can we apologize to her?” Kanako asked.

“You should go to her grave and put your feelings into it. Bring an offering too. She might be more partial to that. If… and I mean, if Noriko accepts your apology, it's better than nothing. Good luck.”

“Thank you.”

*****

“What should we do?” Kanako asked. 

The two girls were standing out on the street, outside of the dorm. 

“We should go to the cemetery.” Yuka told her. “However… Koume took way too long with Itsuki the Friendly Ghost so now it's late. Cemeteries close early.”

“True.” Kanako agreed. “However, first thing tomorrow morning, we should get together, go buy some donuts, and then go apologize.”

“Sounds like a plan. See you tom…”

“Hold it! I don't think it's wise for us to separate. There's strength in numbers, and if Noriko does something then it'll be easier for us to fight back as two.”

“That's right. However, she could possess either of us… so I'm not sure.”

“We should keep an eye on each other. Maybe… that will deter her…”

“Tch. Just say you're scared to be alone. However, Yukari got her blood all over the mats in my kitchen. So! You're going to help me wash them. Okay?”

“Um… sure.”

“You have to earn the right to sleep over.” Yuka reminded her. “Yukari did the same thing…”

“Okay.”

“You're so obedient, Kanako.” Yuka smiled as she pet Kanako on the head. “Good girl.”

All Kanako could do was nod and hope that tomorrow's apology would go well. She could not do this anymore. Yuka was really starting to blow her shit!

It took twenty minutes to get to Yuka's apartment. Kanako had decided to forgo getting clothes from her apartment for convenience’s sake. It was no big deal. After all… she could always change clothes tomorrow.

As soon as they got inside, Yuka started… being Yuka. Kanako had started to walk into the main part of the apartment, but Yuka stopped her.

“Hey maid. Pick up the rug. I need to show you how to work the washing machine.”

“Got it.”

The laundry room was in the basement of the building. During the week, it was eerily silent, while on Sunday, it was very busy. The smart people in the building did their laundry during the week. 

As it was Thursday, the laundry room was empty, save for one of the washers being used.

“Wow… these are big washers.” Kanako observed.

“Duh. People can't wash their bed covers in small ones.” Yuka opened up one of the washers.

“I hope you have change.” Yuka told her. 

“Um… no. I actually don't have cash on me.”

“You don't? Ugh… fine. Stay here. I'll go upstairs and get my change.”

Yuka left the laundry room, and Kanako began to think to herself. Eventually, her thoughts became the kind that she had to vocalize.

“What should I say tomorrow?” Kanako asked herself. “What would I want to hear if I were Noriko…? Hmm… okay. Noriko, I'm really sorry for hurting you. I hope you're able to rest

…”

“Is that all you've got?” 

Kanako looked up to see that Noriko was sitting on top of the washers. She jumped off of it, landing in front of Kanako. Remembering what happened last time, Kanako hid her hands behind her back.

“Hi Noriko. I didn't realize that you were here. I was actually going to visit you tomorrow. Yuka is coming too.”

“Why?” Noriko asked.

“I want to apologize and make things right.” Kanako told her. “What we did was wrong… and an act jealousy. I really regret that we weren't kinder to you. Well, I can't speak for everyone else. But I can speak for myself. I hope you can accept my apology, but I'd understand if you didn't. It's what I deserve.”

Noriko was silent, clearly blindsided by Kanako's sincere apology. She wasn't expecting this at all. From the beginning to now, Noriko believed that Kanako blindly hated her.

But she didn't.

Tears fell from Noriko's eyes and onto the floor. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry…”

“Noriko. You have nothing to apologize for.” Kanako told her. “I should be apologizing to you. So if you decide to kill me. I'd understand.”

“No.” Noriko shook her head. “I will spare you. But only on the condition that you never talk to Yuka again. However… if you break this… I'll kill you. Understand?”

“U-Understood! Thank you, Noriko!”

“Of course.” Noriko smiled. “I hope you can visit Shizuku soon. Be a good friend to her, okay? She deserves it.”

“Oh I will! Thank you so much…”

Noriko then vanished, leaving Kanako to sigh of relief. She did it… she did it. She had freed herself. Now to go back home. She had no reason to be around Yuka anymore!

She turned around, and was about to walk toward the door. Yuka was standing there.

“Um… hi Yuka. How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough. Here's your change.” Yuka threw the coins on the ground.

“You can wash your own rug.” Kanako told her. I'm going home.”

“No you're not. You're going to wash my rug. Pick up the change and put it in the machine. Are you stupid?”

“You know what? Shizuku was right. You have more than what you deserve, and honestly? I hope you lose it all when you fuck with the wrong person!”

“Are you seriously talking down to me right now?!” Yuka screeched. “I thought we were friends!”

“Do you even know the definition of the word? I'm telling you this because I care about you. Clean up your act. Apologize sincerely to Noriko tomorrow. For your own sake.”

“You know what, Kanako? Fuck you.”

Yuka grabbed Kanako by her hair and dragged her over to the open washing machine.

“Hey! Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me!”

“What am I doing? I'm taking out the trash.”

Yuka shoved Kanako into the washing machine, causing her to hit her head on the metal part. Because Kanako was dazed, Yuka was able to get her half way in. 

Trying to defend herself, Kanako managed to kick Yuka in the face. The pigtailed girl slid across the floor, covering her nose with her hands. Kanako watched nervously as Yuka removed her hands, which were now covered in blood.

“Are you trying to kill me? Have you lost your mind?” Yuka yelled. She got up, and ran over to Kanako, shoving her completely into the washer. She shut the door, inserted the change and started to fuss with the buttons.

“Yuka! Yuka! What are you doing? Stop it, stop it! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!”

A chime was heard, and Yuka crouched down so that Kanako could see her.

“I'm sorry too.” Yuka said, smirking.

She turned around and left, leaving Kanako in the washer, which was now filling up with water.

“Help! Help!” Kanako shouted. She beat on the door as hard as she could. The last thing she wanted was the spin cycle to start, then she'd really be dead.

As the water passed the 80% mark, Kanako's lungs were starting to get tighter and tighter. Her head felt like it was going to explode. She was going to die! This was how she was going to die!

One of the last sounds Kanako had heard was a clicking noise. And immediately after that… everything went black.


	8. Chapter VIII - Queen of the Damned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final hour

**_Chapter VIII - Queen of the Damned_ **

Even though Yuka was left as the last one standing, she still found herself buying a dozen donuts and going to the cemetery.

Unlike most girls her age, Yuka knew the cemetery very well. She had been there very often as a little girl, after the untimely death of her parents. Her grandmother, who had raised her, believed that Yuka had a part in it.

But Yuka was only four when it happened. How could she have killed someone when she had no idea about the concept of death?

Feelings tended to beat logic. Just like Asako Nakano beat her granddaughter. She threw the girl to the wolves, not once teaching her things like kindness, compassion, and empathy. 

Or if Yuka did have those things, Asako took them away from her. By the time Yuka was thirteen, she was thinking of ways to leave the house. Her classmate at school mentioned that Cinderella Productions was holding auditions. Yuka failed. However, a year later, she passed.

She moved into the dorm as soon as possible and kept her interactions with the other girls to a minimum. In her mind, this was all a competition. If you come in second, you're the first one to lose. It wasn't until Yuka got some relevance with some one off units that Mellow Yellow was formed. She was 17, Yukari was 14. Yuka blossomed, Yukari withered.

But then Noriko arrived and everything changed. The queen was about to be overthrown! Yuka could handle losing her solo career, but it was Noriko beating her in the election that threw her over the edge.

That election was hers. It gave her superiority. It gave her control. It gave her power. The same things that she craved as a child. When Noriko offered to hand over the tiara and the like, Yuka felt like she was being mocked.

And as everyone knows now, you don't mock Yuka Nakano and get out unscathed. 

Yuka had learned early in life that the best way to get what you want was through threats and intimidation. Hence why she had decided to go to the cemetery, even though Kanako was no more.

She retraced her steps to Noriko's tombstone, and threw the box of donuts at it. Some of the frosting had smeared on the tombstone, but Yuka didn't care.

“Take your donuts wench.” Yuka said. “Noriko, I know you're out there, and you better listen up. This is the closest you'll get to an apology. Leave me alone unless you want me to come after your family. I can easily ruin their life. So keep that in mind if you ever want to haunt me again. Fucking bitch.”

Yuka finished her rant by spitting onto Noriko's grave. Then she turned around, and made her way out…

*****

The weeks leading up to the Cinderella Productions Ball were relatively quiet, with a few memorial services for the girls who had died. Yuka was back to being the star of the agency. The smell that had plagued her was now gone. She took that as a good thing… her threats had worked! Noriko was gone!

Not only was Noriko gone, but the agency seemed to completely move on. Yuka was glad! It was just like how it was before Noriko showed up… minus the fact that all her friends were dead. Everything was going great! That is, until the week of the ball.

Yuka had been placed in a unit with Yumi Aiba and Riina Tada. They were to release a song with an autumn concept, and as the unit was made up of three girls, one was naturally left out. That girl was Yuka.

So it wasn't much of a surprise when Yuka walked in and saw Yumi and Riina whispering to each other. Whatever they were talking about wasn't interesting to Yuka in the slightest. 

Until Riina said something very interesting.

“But that's the thing. Even if Noriko was still alive, Yuka still would've came in first.”

“I guess some things will never change…” Yumi said, shaking her head.

“Excuse me. What are you two talking about?” Yuka asked, walking over to the duo. Both girls shrank back as Yuka got closer. When she was finally in front of them, Riina nudged Yumi, as if she wanted her to explain.

“You haven't heard?” Yumi questioned. 

“About…?”

“The election results. The preliminaries to be exact.”

“Chihiro messed with the results.” Riina chimed in. “In other words… you came in first. Noriko, second.”

“Ah… no way.” Yuka shook her head. She couldn't believe this… was it possible that Yuka jumped the gun? No, it wasn't possible. That was exactly what happened. 

_ She had murdered Noriko for no reason. _

“Girls, I'm going to go to the bathroom.” Yuka announced. “I'll be back soon.”

“No worries.” Yumi told her. “Take your time. We have all day.”

Yuka ignored her and went into the bathroom, trying to fathom the gravity of what she did. Because of her, five girls were dead. Five families had lost their daughters. All because of her. For the first time since the initial murder, Yuka was beginning to feel some regret. 

*****

Yuka tried to bury these feelings of regret by focusing all of her energy on the upcoming ball. There were only two days left, so she was dress shopping. She posed in front of the fitting room mirror, trying to figure out which dress would fit. She took some pictures, and then opened her messaging app. She scrolled to Yukari's name, and opened up the conversation.

Then Yuka remembered - Yukari was dead, so she was going to have to go off of her own opinion. So she decided to check Instagram, to see what the most popular trends were. The only thing was… Yuka never got a chance to see what the trends were. As soon as she was greeted by a picture of Kanako holding her hand out to a cow and laughing. The caption read, “Fun times at the Oikawa ranch!”

Yuka looked down at the time and noticed that it was posted two hours ago.

How was this possible? How? Wasn't Kanako dead? Didn't Yuka kill her? How did she break out? Did someone let her out?

Yuka needed answers, and she needed them now. She pressed *67, which made her caller ID unlisted, and dialed Kanako's number.

Kanako answered on the second ring.

“Um… hello? Who is this?” 

“It's me.” Yuka told her. She cringed as she heard Shizuku laughing in the background.

“Excuse me, Shizuku. I need to go talk on the phone.”

“Go ahead.”

There was a pause as Kanako was probably moving to a more private area where she couldn't be heard.

“What do you want, you sociopath?” Kanako asked.

“Chill. Don't call me that.”

“If you aren't a sociopath, then what are you? You killed Noriko, and you nearly killed me. Normal people don't do that, Yuka.”

“Who was the person who baked Noriko into cupcakes?” Yuka reminded her. “I'm not the only one in the wrong.”

“That's true. But the difference is that I feel remorse. Did you ever feel remorse? Do you ever feel it?”

“Shut up.”

“Get rude to me again and I'm going to hang up on you. Seriously Yuka… what do you want?”

“How did you get out of the washer?” Yuka questioned. “Didn't it lock?”

“Someone was looking out for me, and pulled me out before I was gone for real.” Kanako said.

“Someone like who?”

“Does that matter? Just know that she's way nicer and more empathetic than you ever will be.”

“You know what? Fuck you fat bitch. Don't ever contact me again!”

Yuka hung up on Kanako and blocked her phone number and all of her social media. Kanako seemed to forgo being an idol for being a ordinary girl. That was great and all, but Yuka didn't conversate with nobodies. Especially ones who seemed to have an issue with her.

*****

The day of the ball, Yuka was getting her hair done by a stylist at the agency. She was getting her hair curled and then would wear it in her signature pigtails. The stylist kept asking Yuka questions as a way to make conversation, but… Yuka wasn't having it. She answered with either yes or no. She didn't feel like talking.

At least until Chihiro walked in.

“Make sure you check on Kaede.” she advised the stylist.

“Got it.”

“Hold on.” Yuka spoke up. “I have something I need to ask you, Chihiro.”

“What's up?”

“If you knew that I came in first for the election… why did you swap the results? That wasn't right of you.”

“Neither is how you treat people. Look, I admit that I had some regret in doing that, but… I think Noriko deserved it more. It doesn't matter now though, because Noriko is dead. Congratulations on your win. See you at the ceremony.”

“You too.” 

Chihiro left, and Yuka focused on her reflection as the stylist finished her hair.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Is it just me, or is it hot in here…?” Yuka asked. “I hope I'm not coming down with a fever.”

“No, it's actually quite comfortable. You must be nervous.”

“Yeah. I'm just nervous.” Yuka nodded. “It  _ is  _ June. It'd be weird if I was cold.”

“That's right.”

“I'm going to step outside. I really don't feel well.”

“Do what you want. Just remember to come in so you don't miss the ceremony.”

Yuka smiled, trying to hide the fact that she was uncomfortable. “I wouldn't miss this for the world.”

Before the stylist could say anything else, Yuka ran out of the room, making the mistake of running in stilettos. Her heel ended up catching the tulle of her dress and that sent Yuka flying towards the floor. 

“Fuck…” Yuka swore, getting up and limping to the bathroom. Once she got in there, she undid her stiletto on the problematic foot and examined it, noticing how her ankle was starting to swell up. 

_ Once I get my crown, I'm leaving _ , Yuka thought as she put her shoe back on. Then she stared at her reflection. Her hair had been done, and she chose to wear a strapless light pink dress which had rhinestones threaded into the skirt. Because Yuka was on the short side, she had elected to wear five inch stilettos. That decision was now biting her in the ass.

Yuka checked the back of her dress, to make sure she didn't tear a hole in the skirt. When she saw that the skirt was intact, she turned to leave, until she felt the temperature go up by ten degrees. She went to the sink and splashed cold water on her face, in a last ditch effort to get her to cool down. Why was she so hot? Was the air conditioner not working?

She looked up into the mirror, so she could wipe her face dry, but froze when she saw Noriko just staring back at her, not doing anything, but just looking forlorn. If anything, Yuka thought that Noriko looked sad because she was robbed of experiencing the festivities. But there was nothing that Yuka could do about it at this point. Noriko was dead.

Yuka blinked, and then Noriko disappeared. 

“Hallucination.” Yuka said. “It was just a hallucination. Right…”

She dried off her face and limped to the room designated as the ballroom. The ball was in full swing, and everyone was enjoying themselves. Music was playing and people were talking amongst themselves. 

Yuka found herself going over to Yumi and the two were making small talk, when Yuka nearly fell over. Luckily she caught herself.

“Are you okay?” Yumi asked.

“I'm fine.” Yuka insisted. “It's just really hot in here, isn't it?” She began to fan herself. “Since I've been in here, it feels like the temperature went up by one hundred degrees. Do you feel it?”

Yumi shook her head. “No… it's actually quite cool. Hey… are you sure you're okay? Your face is red.”

“Oh no… that's embarrassing.”

“You know… if you were sick you should've stayed home.”

“I'm not sick. I just need to sit down.” Yuka found an empty chair and sat down at it. She held her head in her hands, trying to will the pain away. Not only had she felt like she was on fire, but now her head was pounding! Why was this happening now?!

Yumi, always the conscientious one, had walked over with a glass of water. Yuka downed it like she had never had water before.

“You're definitely sick.”

“Shut up Yumi. I'm fine. I'm fine.”

Yumi sucked her teeth. “I'm not going to babysit an unappreciative brat. That's not what I came here for. I'm going to find Aiko.”

Yuka was so fucked up that she couldn't even think of a biting remark to say. Yumi quietly slipped off.

Yuka was about to run back into the bathroom, but before she could, Koume walked over to her.

“Yuka.”

“W-what is it, you creep?” Yuka asked.

“You should go home. Do not stand on that stage if you value your life.” Koume warned her.

“Is that what your “friend” told you? How do I know you're not like everyone else and just fucking with me?”

“Because if I didn't care, I would've kept my mouth shut. It's your choice, but if I were you, I'd go home.”

“I'm different.” Yuka told her. “That crown is  _ mine _ .”

“Suit yourself.” Koume walked away, and Yuka spent the rest of the evening alone, trying to survive the oppressive heat she was feeling. She needed the night to end so that she could go home and sleep.

Luckily, Chihiro had taken the stage. It was time for what everyone was waiting for. 

“Everyone quiet down! Thank you, thank you.” Chihiro started. “Here at Cinderella Productions, we've had a rather… unfortunate year. We've lost a few idols, some permanently. However, all we can do is look forward to the future… they wouldn't want us to mourn and mourn for the rest of our lives. They would want us to continue on. And for that reason… I'd like to present the crown for this years Cinderella Girl. Noriko Shiina!”

“What?” Yuka shouted out. “How is this possible! The girl is dead!”

Saya Matsubara, who had ended up sitting at the same table as Yuka, started giggling. “What are you talking about, silly? Get up on stage. Chihiro is giving you the crowd.”

“T-t-thank you.” Yuka said, feeling very embarrassed. She made her way up to the stage, and stood next to Chihiro, who had placed the ornate tiara onto Yuka's head.

“Any last words?” Chihiro asked.

“Excuse me?” Yuka demanded. “Was that a threat?”

“What are you saying?” Chihiro asked nervously, then she lowered her voice. “Just give your thank you speech and go. I don't have all night.”

Yuka snatched the microphone from Chihiro and held it up to her mouth.

“Well first of all… I want to thank everyone who voted for me.” Yuka started. Normally she made her speeches as grandiose as possible, but this year? She was keeping it brief. “If it weren't for you guys… I wouldn't be standing here on this stage today. And… I really appreciate it…”

“Do you?”

A cold hand had grabbed Yuka by her wrist, and Yuka slowly turned around… expecting Chihiro, but instead, Noriko was standing there.

“How does it feel to be wearing the crown that you killed me for? Is it worth it? Is it really worth it?”

“Maybe if you didn't cost my career, I wouldn't have had to do that! You ruined everything. Now go back to where you go and leave me alone!”

“Was it worth taking my life?” Noriko asked. 

“I did what I had to do! Go away! Leave me alone!”

The audience watched on in confusion. They had no idea who Yuka was talking to, as they couldn't see Noriko. The only person that did, was Koume, but she was watching from behind her hands.

“I'll leave you alone, alright. I promise. Just answer this question.” Noriko said.

“What is it?”

“Why couldn't we all get along?”

Yuka just stared wordlessly at Noriko. This had to be a joke.

“I'm leaving.” Yuka told her. “Go haunt someone else!”

“Not on my watch!” Noriko reached out and grabbed Yuka so hard that she was able to turn her around. Yuka fell onto the stage with a sickening thud, landing on her injured ankle.

“You better run.” Noriko threatened.

Yuka kicked off her stilettos and gathered her dress. She ran outside, not caring that she was barefoot. The sidewalk was cutting into her feet. Her ankle felt like it was going to fall off. She ran about ten blocks, not bothering to stop and see if Noriko was going to follow her. When it was time to take a rest, Yuka disappeared into an alleyway, hiding in front of a dumpster. She was trying to get her breath back so she could continue running.

But she had reached the end of the line.

Noriko materialized in front of her, covering Yuka's mouth with her hands.

“You know, I left you alone for a bit because of your threat to hurt my family. It's not because I was scared of you. I just had to think about how I could get rid of you… whatever I had to do, had to be fatal.” Noriko explained. “My parents have suffered enough because of you.”

“And what the hell are you going to do?” Yuka said, snatching Noriko's hand from her mouth.

“You'll find out really soon. Give me the tiara, and I'll spare your life.”

“Never. Why did you think I killed you in the first place?”

“Because you're a fool. Whatever. Suit yourself.” Noriko produced a cigarette lighter. “You can't kill a dead girl, but you can surely burn one alive.”

“Hold on. Wait!”

But Noriko didn't wait. She lit the lighter then threw it onto Yuka's dress, at the bottom of her skirt.

“No no no no no!” Yuka shouted.

“Remember, heat rises.” Noriko smiled at her. “Have fun.”

The girl then skipped away, leaving Yuka to become engulfed in flames as the tulle in her skirt was highly flammable. She screamed in anguish, calling for help from Yukari, Airi, Nono,  _ anyon _ e! But of course, no one came. 

The last thing Yuka remembered, was how the fire stopped hurting at one point. She actually felt completely normal… that is, until she hit the ground.

At 3 am that night, two drunk college students decided to wander into the alley, expecting to take part in drunken debauchery. There was nothing like alcohol fueled antics on a Saturday summer night. 

However, the fun and games ended when one of the students ended up kicking a dead body. Yuka Nakano’s dead body, blackened and charred up.

*****

The agency had learned about Yuka's death on the following Monday, and just like they did with Noriko, some of the idols set up a memorial for Yuka, for people to pay their respects. But that was where the similarities ended. While people genuinely mourned Noriko's death, Yuka was only mourned out of obligation. This became apparent once you realized that both of the memorials were right across the hall from each other.

Very few people stopped to pay respects, and if they did, it was most likely because they hadn't dealt with Yuka. This was the case for two of the foreign idols - Natalia and Fei Fei. The two had approached the memorial with a bouquet of flowers.

Natalia set the flowers down and Fei Fei sighed.

“She was really unpopular, wasn't she? There's nothing here.” 

“Yeah… you're right.” Natalia gazed at the picture of Yuka which decorated the memorial. “She's one of those people who people only liked because they were scared of her.”

“Oh… I hate those kind of people.”

“You and me both. I never dealt with her personally, but I heard about her personality. I'm glad she's gone.”

“She got what she deserved.”

The two girls walked away, leaving the hallway empty. A girl then walked over to the memorials. First she stared at Yuka's, and then moved on to Noriko's. Noriko's memorial, still decorated and cared for. This girl couldn't stand it! She took Noriko's picture off of the wall, and removed it from the frame.

“What a cute girl.” she said, and immediately ripped the picture in half. After that, she moved Yuka's picture to where Noriko's was.

“Much better.” she said, smiling.

It was said that Noriko had passed on to the next stage of the afterlife, according to Cinderella Productions occult expert, Koume Shirasaka. No one questioned this. Yet, a good amount of the idols had started to feel a more sinister energy, one that was blacker than the night sky, seeping through the walls of the agency.

Of course they did. Evil never dies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God... I did it. Not only did I get over my posting anxiety but I also finished a fic. Hooray!   
> First of all I want to thank everyone who read this, and especially people who left kudos and comments, whether they were anonymous or not. I really appreciate them! Really really appreciate them! They kept me going hahaha  
> Secondly, this fic was really fun to write. I really hope that whoever finds this fic, as well as the people who have been keeping up with it, enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed it!  
> Once again, thank you all!


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